Sounding Mirage
by Macross-Green
Summary: When banishment is the only true choice, a new team leaves with Naruto to find safe haven. Who would suspect that a failed mission could have such a repercussion on one lowly genin? Rated M for safety. Naruto/Hinata/Kin. And a chaperone, of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Sounding Mirage**

**Author's Note**: It's been a long time since I've had the urge to write. However, after reading a number of fanfics recently in the Naruto-setting, I've found myself interested in getting back into the swing of things. I know, I know- this isn't the first time that I've written a Naruto fic. I still have another one that I didn't go back to after writing two chapters. Mostly, I found it difficult to handle the personalities of the characters I was planning to use as main characters. Even now, I'm worried about this fanfic and the personalities of the characters that I'm going to be considering as my 'main characters.' Anyway, this story is going to based partially upon the "Missing Hokage" challenge by Perfect Lionheart, though I am taking my own liberties with it.

I find the idea of the Kyuubi giving bloodlines/kekkei genkai to Naruto and his ladies (as most of them seem to become harem fics) to be a tad overpowering. Okay, so it's downright crazy in my mind. There are a few other things as well, and despite my being a FemHaku fan, I am not going that route with this story. Instead... well, you'll see. I think I'm going with a new route, though I wouldn't doubt that at least some of this has been done already in someone else's fic. I just probably don't know it yet. I'm also getting a few ideas from other authors that I've favorited stories from- don't blame me, their work is good, even if I haven't actually taken the time to review their stories (yet).

Oh, right. I don't have a Beta, so I'm the only one to blame if I somehow screw up extremely badly. Something else to keep in mind is that I am basing this fic off of the manga, not the anime. Nor am I involving the influence of the movies. Now, I haven't been keeping up with the story arcs too much (let's just say that what I do know is thanks to various video games and such), so don't expect this story to follow the manga canon all that well. In fact, there's gonna be a big deviation from canon in this very chapter. One other thing of note is that the title will likely not make sense to anyone yet... At least, the full meaning won't become apparent for at least the first chapter or two, anyway. Hold tight, I hope to have that at least make sense by

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. I don't own the characters, and I'm not doing this for money. If you paid money for this story in paper or digital form, you've been screwed over by someone else. Any similarities of the storyline to other stories is likely to be incidental, a parody, or outright 'borrowed' from that author- this is a fanfic, and when it comes to fan-written stuff, almost everything's been done. Any similarities of this story and events in real life are completely unrelated and, since this fic is based off a manga, absolutely unlikely in any given sense.

* * *

These were highly uncertain days for the village known as Konoha. Less than three months after the last stage of the recent chunin exams had taken place, an invasion borne from Suna and Oto wreaked havoc amongst the village hidden in the leaves. Many ninja had lost their lives to the attack, notably genin and chunin ranks had drastically been reduced in population. The emergence of a demon from Sand was merely a rumor in the minds and ears of the civilian population, but the truth had struck it's toll amongst the Leaf shinobi. The emergence of a trio of powerful snake summons and their defeat at the village walls had taken the lives of several jonin shinobi. Numerous civilians had perished, but in the survivor's eyes, one thing that was even worse had happened.

The Third Hokage, the great professor and even better known as the 'god of shinobi,' had been slain. The killer of their village's leader escaped with his four assistants afterward, even as the demon from Sand was dealt with. Many ninja were injured and therefore hospitalized, all while most of the civilians, both those of the village and those visiting from other locations to watch the end of the chunin exams, managed to escape from losing too many lives. While the Konoha council attempted to hold things together, the ninja's line of command was broken without the inclusion of a Hokage to lead them. Civilians had begun to leave the village and commerce faltered.

Some enemy ninja were captured. In fact, the Suna genin that had made it to the final stage of the chunin exam were among the surviving captured, and plans to use the children (known to be the family of the late Kazekage) as leverage to broker an extended alliance between the Suna and Konoha. The process was slow going, thanks to the fact that the councils from neither village could find any points to agree upon. It didn't help that the attempts of one council to contact the other to determine the terms and conditions of the prisoner of war exchange were slow, due to a lack of shinobi from both sides being unwilling, or in some cases unable, to visit the other village.

It was at this time that the loyal sannin, the toad sage Jiraiya, took a boy in orange from the village walls and left to find the next Hokage. In the time it took for them to return, intelligence reports had proven that an altercation between all three of the sannin had taken place just outside of Tanzaku-Gai. The news of their return had been low-profile, with much of the godaime Hokage's attention being placed temporarily upon the ninja in the hospital, with the blessings of the council given to help facilitate the recovery of Konoha's injured and wounded. She also required the time and assistance of the girl that she had brought with her to attempt and begin working on the dangerously high amount of paperwork burdening the hokage's desk that had piled up since the demise of the third.

Some time passed before a genin alerted the newly-appointed fifth hokage as to the desertion of the most high-profile genin of the village. The Uchiha, Sasuke, had left the village. However, with their newest chunin in command of a group of four of the strongest genin given the mission of retrieving the Uchiha, whether the boy wanted to return or not...

It was merely a matter of time before something happened to set off events that would change how things were done in the village. It took only a day and a half for those sent on the mission were returned, either by medical personnel or by the Sand ninja that were pardoned of their crimes against Konoha in exchange for their assistance with retrieving the last Uchiha. The results of the mission were not what had been expected. Each and every initial member of the retrieval team, with the sole exception of Shikamaru naru, had to be hospitalized. Choji had taken the chili pill that his family uses, and it was only after very careful treatment thanks to the archives of the original In-Shika-Cho files that allowed the doctors to save his life.

Neji Hyuuga had been even worse off. It had taken five hours of surgery to regenerate muscles, organs, bones and tissue to the point where he would not be in lethal danger. Still, it would take months for the boy to recuperate naturally. Kiba and Akamaru weren't in much better shape, after being saved by Kankuro. Shikamaru had managed to survive with a broken right pinky finger after his own rescue by Temari and their combined capture of a Sound ninja by the name of Tayuya. Despite the breadth and severity of the wounds and injuries inflicted on Konoha's genin, all paled in comparison to whom was brought in by Gaara and Lee.

Great holes, partially and badly healed wounds, gashes the length of the boy's forearm and even a large slash across the side of his head were only the beginnings of the wounds. Punctures through the chest in two different spots threatened to kill the boy from not only blood in the lungs but also from bone fragments left from the attacks that had done the deed. His left leg dangled uselessly from his body, barely attached, and his trademark spiky hair had been cut short... or cleaved right off from sharp attacks that had very nearly scalped the blonde. It had taken nearly eight hours of constant surgery, and three shifts of doctors along with Tsunade and Shizune's help to handle the blood loss, the cleaning of his body, resetting bones, regeneration tissues and organs and finally restoring some semblance of life even as his body attempted to heal on its own.

Naruto had returned more than half dead to this world, and the entire time his seal was exposed. No attacks came close to damaging it, save for a swipe that had left a superficial cut along his chest and down to his left thigh. As time went on, many left the operating room, while others sat in the waiting room beyond it. Day turned to night, and the number of people in the waiting merely increased in number as the tension in the air got thicker with each person that arrived. At first, it was merely those genin from the teams that had their teammates go. Hinata had been the first to arrive, while Lee and Sakura had been there since the genin had been sent on the mission. Forced to take it easy, Lee had been forbidden to go after Sasuke even after his surgery had been successfully completed by Tsunade.

They were joined as news got out as to the conditions of the survivors, those whom had been sent on the mission, trickled back into the village. Ino was next to arrive, barely twenty minutes after Choji had been recovered. When Neji had been rushed back, the sight of the wounds inflicted upon the older prodigy of the Hyuuga's branch family had shocked Hinata- it took the efforts of both Lee and Sakura to try and calm the poor girl down. Tenten and Gai arrived, and the worried look on Hinata's face and in her body language just seemed to transfer to Tenten as well.

When Kankuro returned with Kiba in tow along with Akamaru, the Inuzuka was completely passed out as a medic-nin continued to siphon the poison from the boy's body using kikai bugs. Shino arrived seconds later and his own swarm practically flowed over to assist with the process as well, following his fellow clan member deeper into the hospital toward the detox ward. It wasn't long after until Shikamaru and Temari walked into the waiting room, a splint on his pinky as he sat down and started staring at the ceiling as he waited. Eventually, a Chunin arrived with the report forms and a pen, giving the Nara heir something to do rather than stare at the ceiling.

And wait they did, for over an hour before Gaara ran into the hospital, shattering the doors and with the medic team following just as fast. On a bed of sand, hovering above the floor was Naruto, his wounds wrapped in bandages that were completely stained red. The boy was completely still, as the ninja flanking his sides and carrying him disappeared into an emergency room and a number of doctors and nurses were ordered into it as well. Gaara returned a moment later, the light above the room's doors going on, and just leaned against the wall to wait for the results.

The barrel, and its occupant, arrived a moment later, carried by a quartet of medic ninja into the last emergency room.

Only two people waited in the hospital all night. The others were led out by their jounin-sensei, or in Sakura's case, carried out while she slept. The two that remained did not sleep- one, was the dark haired genin that was always watching. The other was the chunin who always thought. Neither did anything but sit and wait. A branch member of the Hyuuga clan arrived shortly before midnight, attempting to coerce Hinata to go with her, to which the girl stammered an order to make the branch girl away, and that she would go nowhere until she had news on those she cared for.

Doctors filed out of the rooms shortly after midnight, and the next group filed in. By an hour after midnight, the light above one of the emergency rooms flickered off and the doctors left. One noticed the two youngsters and walked over. "I am happy to report that Neji Hyuuga is resting comfortably. He's lost a lot of blood and we won't be letting him wake up for several days, perhaps a week or two at the longest. He is still in critical condition, but we are certain that he'll pull through." As he said that to Hinata and Shikamaru, Neji was slowly wheeled out of the room by two nurses, following the doctor down the hall and then disappearing as they quickly headed away.

"T-tha... that's good. Thank kami." Hinata whispered, moving back to sit again as she waited for news of the one who was still in the emergency room.

Sitting on the chair, hunched over somewhat with his hands held together in his 'thinking' pose, Shikamaru opened his eyes to look over at Hinata. "You know, you should get some sleep, Hinata. If you don't want to go, just curl up on a chair or something. I'll wake you when someone comes out." The girl shook her head quickly as she looked to him, and smiled gratefully.

"Th-thank you, b-but I w-will remain a-awake. I w-want to b-b-be.." she swallowed softly, but stopped when Shikamaru smiled and shook his head.

"Don't be troublesome, Hinata. If you want to stay, fine. I can't force you to go somewhere unless it's a mission, after all." he sighed softly. "What a drag. My first command and nearly everyone dies." He shivered. "For what it's worth, I wish we'd had jounin or chunin instead of genin to go. They would've had the experience needed to do the job."

Hinata shook her head. "Y-you d-did the b-best you c-could, Shikamaru. E-e-everyone d-did. A-and everyone w-will live. N-no o-one is g-going t-to die." she managed to reply, a fierceness in her voice that Shikamaru couldn't remember hearing since the her match with her cousin during the chunin exams. "N-Naruto is not g-giving up. H-he did n-not give up on me, s-so I w-won't give up on h-him, a-and you shouldn't, e-either!"

The Nara heir just watched her for a moment before he leaned back, slowly releasing his thinking position before he gave the Hyuuga a nod. "Troublesome woman. You're right, of course. We know better than to underestimate our most unpredictable genin, after all." The two shared a grin, then turned to watch the door once more.

The wait continued.

It was not their fault that both the genin and an exhausted chunin fell asleep, but the slamming open of the door at three in the morning woke them with a start that led to them getting to their feet. Out came the fifth hokage, followed shortly by Shizune and the other doctors and nurses that had been in the emergency room for so long. "Be sure take him to the Intensive Care Unit. Have ANBU Cat and Falcon set guards and privacy seals in the room he's taken to." Tsunade barked out, recieving a confirmation from her subordinates before she came to a halt near the waiting room. She hardly noticed the two youngsters, barely more than children, as the question in their tired eyes were unspoken but all too obvious.

She smiled. "That brat has to be the luckiest kid I have ever seen. How he's alive, I may never understand. But don't worry, you two. He's in critical condition, but he's gonna make it." Shizune nodded in affirmation, and Hinata broke out into the widest smile. Shikamaru's shoulders relaxed in turn, but before either of them could say anything, Tsunade shook her head. "No, you can't see any of them yet. Tomorrow. You can see them tomorrow, now go home and get some sleep.

Shikamaru nodded, sighing softly before giving a small smile. "Fine. I'll walk you home, Hi.." and he trailed off as Tsunade caught the slumping Hyuuga, a weary smile on her face as she fainted. "What a drag." the boy mumbled, to which Shizune giggled.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm certain there's a cot around here somewhere she can have for the night." she suggested, and Tsunade gave her assistant a grin. Shizune slowly grinned in return as she caught the hint cast at her. "I'll get it set up." and with that, Shizune rushed away to get things set up. Tsunade lifted the little girl in her arms and looked to Shikamaru.

"Let her clan know that she is safe at the hospital before you get home, would you please, Shikamaru?" the hokage asked, and Shikamaru nodded.

"Fine, fine. It's troublesome, but at least their compound is on the way home. I'll do it, Hokage-sama." he responded, and then the chunin turned to leave.

Tsunade was about to call after the boy as he turned the corner, but stopped when Hinata turned a little bit in her arms, drawing her attention down to the girl. She was still smiling, her hands held to her chest. "Cute girl. Come on, let's get you to a bed so you can actually sleep."

* * *

In this room, one could not tell what time it was. The single light that there was to provide any visibility in the window-less room was recessed into the ceiling, covered in glass that was sealed and out of reach. A cot with a mattress that was barely a twin-size sat in the corner, with a single blanket on it. A toilet in the opposite corner provided the sole other place to sit as the occupant of the room rested on the bed. In the month or so that this person had been kept in this place, much had happened outside of it. Inside the room, however, this singular person knew almost none of it. Left only to her own devices for days on end, her solitary confinement was only broken one or twice a week, and was then escorted to another room that had a table and a chair that she was strapped into. The Chakra-Seal that she bore on her back kept her from accessing her chakra network- it was shaped much as a interwoven strands of ink, criss-crossing across her skin along her spine. It also served to paralyze, as she had learned the day that the seal had been forced onto her.

She hadn't been able to walk for a day after that.

The girl's eyes closed, finally, as the light above her head grew dim. Sleep came quickly, as it always did- without any way to gauge time within this room, it was nearly impossible to know how long she had been here. Being in the room left her to her thoughts, her memories... her guilt. And, as such, these things became far more apparent in her dreams. Most often, it was the last day before she had woken up in the hospital within the Village of the Leaf, her body ravaged and crushed by what had caused her to be eliminated from the Chuunin Exam's preliminary round. One arm broken and the leg on the same side had been in the same state. Four broken ribs as well, and a concussion. She knew that if she'd been in her home village, that she would have lost her life rather than been operated on. Their leader was merciless and certainly would not have expended the resources needed to save a failure of a Genin.

The large expanse of the tower's arena had been the site of the preliminary round. It had been used before, but it had been so rare that it was unlikely that it had been kept up very well. The fact that the tower itself resided within the Forest of Death, which her team had made it through, made justifying the upkeep of this building rather treacherous for most genin. In fact, she had heard that just to send a genin team into this place was worthy of a low C-rank mission. As she waited with a confident look on her face, on the same walkway as the team from Suna, the girl found herself looking over the teams that had survived the second round within the forest of death that had the home field advantage. She knew, of course, of several of them... notably, the Hyuuga and the Uchiha. She even knew more about Team 7- the way that the Uchiha held onto his shoulder, near his neck, was all that was needed to be seen to tell her team what had happened to the stern looking boy. It didn't help that they also had run into them back in the forest, and being on the receiving end of a brutal Uchiha beatdown had made the three escape as quickly as they could.

Even now, she knew that unless they won their battles here, that each of their lives were completely forfeit. Reaching back to her lengthy black hair, the girl pulled it over her shoulder and replaced the band that tied her hair together near the end of it, using a gray ribbon that was similar to the snake-patterned scarf she wore over her neck. The other one, she tucked into her pocket as she waited for her chance to fight. The fight between the Uchiha and one of the other Leaf genin went rather quickly, though Sasuke had been at a clear disadvantage throughout most of it. The next one, between that tall bug-user and her partner had been almost as quick and far more one-sided after Zaku's initial Zankuuha attack. She'd snickered after the initial shock of her teammate's loss wore off. _He's gonna hate being called Stumpy_.

The next match had been boring as hell, for the most part. The blonde girl's using her hair to capture her target, however, had been rather ingenious and interesting- it gave her some ideas. After all, her hair was the longest of all the kunoichi here, and if that blonde could do that with her cut strands... She smiled a bit, even as the two girls jockeyed for position and then rammed forward, knocking each other out with a heavy punch that neither attempted to avoid. A double-KO was announced and neither of the Kunoichi would advance to the third round. _Less competition. Good._

The match between the blonde girl from Suna and some bun-haired girl from the Leaf was next and even that one made her cringe. _That weapon user doesn't stand a chance at long range, and she'll never get close enough to her to use them effectively. The wind girl wins. Easily._ And that indeed happened, as the black-haired girl was propped up on a fan and then thrown away, only to be caught by some boy in green... spandex. _Yuck. He can't hide anything at all in that get-up. How the hell could anyone wear something like that shit on a mission? _Still, she couldn't help but to look up to the electronic board that was announcing everyone's names as it started forming letters upon it.

**Tsuchi Kin vs. Akimichi Choji**.

"What a drag... well, you get to fight a girl, eh, Choji?" she heard from across the way, even as she jumped over the railing to land on the arena floor below. The sigh she then heard made her smirk as a tall, yet easily the largest boy in the preliminaries headed down the stairs at a slow gait.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, hold onto my chips, would ya Shikamaru?" The girl on the floor just watched as the boy came to the arena grounds and the proctor, still coughing as he had since the beginning of the preliminary round, re-issued the rules to the two.

Kin shook her head as the boy watched her, as if debating whether or not to actually go through with the fight between them. The girl grinned as the proctor started the match and leapt away to a safe distance. "You know, big guy, you don't get the protection of your teammates this time." Choji frowned, and glanced back up to his team standing above the arena floor on the walkway. "Eyes front, fatty!" Kin yelled, drawing her senbon out along with a few of her special senbon, throwing them at the chubby boy.

His gaze swiftly turned back to the black haired girl and the serious look he gave her startled her, even as he responded with a cry of "Nikuden Sensha!" The taijutsu caused the boy's body to swell into a ball and her senbon simply bounced off the boy's body. Then, much to Kin's alarm, Choji rolled quickly towards her at a rate so fast that she couldn't even begin to ring her bells in time before she found herself hit dead-on by the person she'd called fat. Struck dead center, Kin was sent to the floor and the next thing she knew...

White lights, a ceiling she didn't know, and the steady yet soft beeping of something nearby. The scent of disinfectant and sterilization was obvious even to the untrained nose, and the ragged breathing of another nearby caught her attention.

A hospital. She'd heard of such places before, but had never been in one. There'd only been a clinic or two in her village. She winced as she tried to lift her arm and found herself looking to her right side, where both her arm and leg were suspended by wires that fell from the ceiling. With a sigh, she looked to her left instead, the action causing her to wince even as her eyes came to a surprise- the girl with the hime haircut was there, with a respirator inserted in her mouth, the mask holding it in place over her mouth and nose while the only movement she made was that of her chest and a few slight twitches behind closed eyes... along with a slow and steady beep from the machines that she was attached to even told Kin that the girl was alive.

"Oh, you're awake?" she heard someone say, and Kin immediately shifted to look at the person that had spoken. From a chair that had been pulled up alongside the other side of the girl that she'd been looking at, a boy stood. Kin nodded, and the boy grinned. "That's great!" he exclaimed, though he immediately covered his mouth with both hands and glanced back to the girl that was in such horrible condition. "Sorry, Hinata. I'll be quieter." he said quietly, and then walked around to come closer to the Sound genin. He glanced to the table beside her bed and picked up the hitai-ate that had been set there by someone, and smiled to the dark haired girl.

"Here, this is yours, I think. You're one of the ninja that attacked us back in the forest when I was out of it, weren't ya?" the blonde asked, and Kin nodded. "I thought so. You made Sakura cut her hair." She winced, and Naruto blinked. "Oh, um... sorry. Not a good topic here, I gotcha. So, what's your name?"

Kin just stared at the blonde boy for a moment. _Why in the hell is he wearing orange... And that's the same outfit from the forest, now that I think about it. Doesn't he have other clothes?_ "Kin. Not that it matters. What happened at the prelims?" she asked now, her voice quiet and rather hoarse before the door opened and another boy entered. Kin glanced over and blinked. _The same boy?_

"Oh, you're awake? Good thing I got some water. Here, if you're thirsty, just let me know." the boy glanced at the other and grinned as the first boy disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Would you like some water?" Kin just stared at him, giving a slight nod in response. "Okay, here... Careful with it, don't want to get the bed wet. Trust me, I know." he stated quietly, glancing over to Hinata for a second before he looked back to Kin and came over to help her take a sip. "Not too much, okay? The doctors don't like it when you drink everything at once."

Kin sipped from the plastic cup that he'd brought in, the cool liquid coating the girl's dry throat before she leaned back. "Oh, right, the prelim round. After Choji, um... yeah. After that match was mine. I beat Kiba and Akamaru pretty good, and they're almost ready to leave the hospital now, too. Well, the vet's in Akamaru's case, I guess." he replied, and then his smile from the memory faded into a frown before looking back to the girl that was still asleep. "Then it was Hinata's match. With her own cousin, and you can see what happened there." His voice lowered to a whisper. "It was brutal, and she was amazing. But her cousin... Well, I'll get him back for what he did to her. What he almost did to her."

The words that came from his mouth made her smile slightly. _My teammates wouldn't even do that for me. And these two aren't even on the same team?_ "Is she your girlfriend or something? Are you related?" The look on the blonde's face was priceless as his cheeks went crimson and he shook his head quickly. "Then why?"

"Because we're a lot alike. She never gave up, until..." Naruto said in a gentle tone, trailing off for a second before he then tilted the cup slightly as Kin attempted to sip from it again. Then he set it down on the table, while Kin set her hitai-ate upon her stomach, the cool of the metal facing causing her to shiver as she felt it through the fabric of the hospital gown she was forced to wear. "Anyway, it's good that you're awake. Maybe you can keep Hinata company when she wakes up too. I can't come in here much, the nurses don't like me here and these aren't visiting hours anyway." He gave Kin a smile. "I'll let the nurses know you're awake though, I'm sure they'll be able to get you anything you need. Maybe I can sneak in some food sometime for you both, if you want. D'you like ramen?"

Kin smiled slightly at the question and then shrugged a little. "Well, I'll bring a small bowl for you sometime, then. It'll taste loads better than the stuff they have here. The crap here is usually pretty gritty and bitter. Believe me, the ramen where I get it from is a thousand times better than what you'll eat here." Kin nodded to him, feeling somehow drained just from the way that the boy was talking.

"So... what's your name, kid?" she asked, and the blonde gave her a grin.

"I'm gonna be the next Hokage. Naruto Uzumaki." he proclaimed, arms folded across his chest as he gave a triumphant smile. "Though I guess if you're from Sound, that doesn't sound like it matters as much as it might to people who live here, huh?" he wondered aloud, then shrugged. "Anyway, you look tired and I don't want to keep you awake now that you're feeling better. See ya later."

With that, the blonde walked out of the hospital room and Kin saw no more.

The light above grew brighter, and despite attempts of the slumbering girl to shelter her eyes from it, it was no use. Groaning, Kin sat up on the bed and turned around, swinging her legs over the mattress and sighing softly as she remembered the past from before she'd been brought to this cell. "Are they ever gonna let me go? Or kill me?" she asked aloud, hearing her voice the first time since almost a week ago. It was followed by a look at the door that was the only way in or out. It was electrified with raiton jutsu, a seal that would go off if she even attempted to touch the damn thing. She'd learned that after touching it the second day she'd been here.

Time flowed like the wind. It never was still for long and she knew that in due time, she would receive something. A sentence. A reprieve... or a coffin. All she knew now was that the invasion of the Leaf had failed, and she was somehow, despite all odds, still alive.

* * *

Tsunade was tired, sore, and bordering on chakra exhaustion at this point. Spending almost an entire day trying to save two of her most promising genin had drained even her reserves in the attempt- it was all she could do to slump into her chair and rest her arms one the desk before her. Head lowered, and the old blonde woman sighed. Thoughts of the Hyuuga boy and then the blonde brat filled her head- she hadn't seen such injuries since the third Shinobi War. That might not be saying much, considering that the sannin had been on 'leave' pretty much since then.

She groaned as she turned her head, only to find the pile of paperwork that had been left undone since early in the afternoon, ever since the first injured genin had begun to arrive back from the mission. Choji, in comparison to his teammates on the mission, had been relatively simple to start on the road to recovery. But the severity of situation kept her on hand at the hospital ever since. _Damn it brat... if it wasn't for the power of the nine-tails in you, there's no way in hell that you'd be alive._ She frowned, and sat back up, glaring at the paper that had been resting on the desk before she had even entered. _Shit. The council's gonna go nuts on this one._

Uchiha, Sasuke- Dead on Arrival. More than a few doctors had attempted to revive him, Tsunade included, until the Uzumaki's injuries had been proclaimed to be life threatening. Two doctors were down from chakra exhaustion just from the attempts to restart both Sasuke's heart and his chakra network, to no avail. According to the only Hyuuga nurse in attendance, the curse seal had eaten away at his chakra coils, and was absorbing the chakra used to try and jump start the boy's chakra network.

Even then, the counter-seal did nothing. The boy had been dead before even arriving at the hospital itself, according to Gaara, and there was no evidence of tampering with the barrel, or the seals around it, other than opening the lid of the barrel itself. _Was that all that it was? Did that kill the boy?_

There was no report from Ibiki yet. The girl that Shikamaru and Temari had captured had not been badly hurt, somehow, and yet had fallen unconscious shortly after Temari's arrival at the scene. With a lack of a report yet, that just meant that she'd have to wait even longer until there was real news regarding the barrel. "Damn it... I need information now!" she yelled, the old woman hidden within a genjutsu gripping at the desk harshly before releasing her grasp upon it. Idly, she pulled open a drawer of the desk and reached into it, past the bottle of sake and the saucers beside it, to one of the scratch it tickets that she purchased every so often.

Using a kunai to display that which was hidden behind the gray film, her eye twitched. "Shizune!" Tsunade bellowed. Several moments later, her assistant appeared in the room, and Tsunade gave her a glare with an intensity that immediately woke her. "Get me Nara's report. Then, go straight to the T&I department and inform Ibiki or Anko to come here immediately. Send Kakashi or Gai to double-check the ANBU guards at Naruto's room, and then to make sure that Sasuke Uchiha's body has not been disturbed from the morgue.

Shizune's confusion was more than obvious on her face until Tsunade showed the girl the scratch it ticket. The dark haired girl froze for a second and then just seemed to disappear afterward.

Getting all 7s on a ticket like this were odds that were almost in the billions to one. There was something coming and she knew her luck. This 'something' was going to be very, very bad.

This time, her reach into the drawer was for the bottle of sake. The saucers were left untouched.

* * *

The news had not been good. The girl that had been captured, a Sound ninja by the name of Tayuya, had given what little information she had regarding the mission. As part of the Sound 4, they were sent to expedite Sasuke's exodus from Konoha and to breathe new power into the curse seal, which would otherwise have taken over his body and mind if it remained at the same level it had been at. The report stated that the Uchiha had to temporarily die in order to give the curse seal enough power to 'evolve', as Tayuya had put it.

Temporary had become permanent, when several of Naruto's clones slammed into the one that had been carrying it, and knocked the barrel from the treetops that they'd been traveling along and to the forest floor below. The lid cracked open, and the energies of the delicate seal that had been set in place dissipated completely.

Tsunade sighed. _Not good. Damn it, what an understatement. Even Shikamaru's report backs up Tayuya's confession to Ibiki._ _And then there's that other issue. The one that deals with the entire problem of Naruto's prisoner. We all felt that chakra being used, there's no way around it. When it comes time for the council to convene, that will be a topic of contention... right up there with the Uchiha and his body._ The hokage shook slightly before slumping back into the chair she was sitting in, turning around to look out to the sky. The sun had risen and she knew that soon enough, the inevitable stirrings of civilian and ninja alike would make the streets appear almost alive.

That also meant that time was growing short. She was not stupid enough to believe that the main thorns in the side of her sensei wouldn't gain access to the reports and then begin to spin a tale that the civilian council would eat up in a heartbeat. _And with the state of Konoha as it is, that bastard Danzo will probably be able to get all the support he needs from them. Both sides consist of equal numbers of councilmembers, but Danzo is not only part of the Shinobi side of the council but also has those two old geezers from sensei's team in his pockets as well. If he manages to gain everyone's support, something bad is going to happen._

"Ya know, hime, it's probably way too early to start drinkin'. Even for you." came a familiar voice that shocked the hokage from her reverie when she found herself with a lecherous grin and a far-too familiar (and annoying) face placed directly in front of her own.

She growled and slammed her palm right into Jiraiya's cheek- the force of which knocked the toad summoner out of the window to smash into, but not through, the furthest inconvenient wall from her desk. "You perverted old man, you know better than to do something like that! And after what happened yesterday, you can't blame me for drinkin' this early. Kami, what a mess today's gonna be."

Picking himself off the floor he'd slumped to from the unceremonious landing he'd performed, face-first, into the wall, Jiraiya shook his head. "And you think being a mess to get ready for a mess is going to make it any easier to clean up and sort out? Really?" A grin slid onto his face. "Face it, princess. With the last Uchiha dead, the civilians are going to look for any excuse possible to place the blame on. This village, to them, is getting weaker the longer that it goes without a Uchiha clan, and now there is no real chance in hell of resurrecting it. Especially without pulling an Orochimaru."

He paused for a moment. "Wonder how that bastard's taking the whole thing? He lost his chance at Sasuke's eyes... Oh." He set up the privacy jutsu quickly, turning back to face Tsunade afterward.

Tsunade nodded slowly. "That's right. Sasuke's eyes are still up on the table. I could take my time and dissect them- might give us the chance we need to not only discover how they work but also how to defeat them. Then again, keeping them around could force Orochimaru to sneak in to steal 'em, too." She grinned evilly. "We could use them as snake bait. But..."

"First thing's first, hime. The council. And there's no doubt that Naruto's up for grabs this time. They'll pin it on him, Tsunade. I have no doubt that they will. The only thing we can do is be ready for it and to try and trip them up." The old man thought for a moment. "They won't do anything to the boy before he recovers. And they can't put him to death- Sasuke's death cannot be completely linked to his opening the barrel... casket... whatever it was that Sasuke was in. Anyway, the best that they can probably do at this point is banish the boy. There might be some who'll call for his death, but there's not enough proof for that. Not to mention his defeating Gaara and the Shukaku to break Sound and Sand's invasion."

"But you know about Danzo's schemes, Jiraiya." Tsunade reminded him, even as the man came to sit down in front of her desk.

"Yeah, I know. But we won't have to worry about that. See, fact of the matter is, the civilians will want Naruto gone before they want him as a weapon. They'd prefer death, but letting him self destruct someplace else, unleashing the Kyuubi upon anyplace other than here? They'll settle for that. As if my student's seal would fail that easily. Bah. The ninja council members will have to make their own decisions, but there's no way in hell that they'd fall into the same trap as the civilians will. Some may vote for banishment, but let's face it. The kid's getting a raw deal here, Tsunade, and honestly anywhere else? Just about anywhere else, he'd be welcomed. He's a hero in wave, did you know that? He's even respected in Suna, from what he did during the invasion. Hell, I can only wonder what they think about the fact that he defeated their junchuuriki and didn't even make chunin."

Tsunade nodded. "Fine, so it sounds like he's in trouble no matter what way the leaves blow. We can probably get some leeway in regards to reviving the Uchiha clan- I've already assigned a team of doctors and nurses to harvest what they can from him before his body stops functioning completely." At the toad sage's questioning look, Tsunade shrugged. "Hell, so we get some sperm from the dead kid and artificially impregnate a few women. Problem is finding willing and capable participants in such a thing. We've got that as a bargaining chip at any rate."

Jiraiya smirked. "Sneaky move, hime. That won't fix the problem of the Uchiha grounds being without its heir now, though, and it won't fix the problem we're gonna have with Naruto. Hell, he's my student and he signed one of Konoha's few summon contracts. If he's banished, that'll break the contract he has with the Toads. It won't be his fault, but it will not look good for us if the toads decide to renege on their agreement to assist the village."

"I don't think that matters much at this point, Jiraiya. But, you make a good point. If he is forced to break the contract with the toads, then he's going to lose one of his strongest abilities to defend himself and others." Tsunade groaned and held a hand to her head as a wave of nausea . "Kami, I feel sick as hell, and I know it's not the sake talking."

"No, that's your common sense attempting to float on the waves of your liquored up brain just after dawn." Jiraiya grinned until he saw the way that her entire body was shaking. "Settle down. We gotta stop getting side-tracked here."

She shook her head. "Look, perv. There's not a lot we can do. They're gonna be aiming for Naruto with the biggest kunai they can throw at him, and he's dead in their sights. I've been on the job, what, a month? Two? And only because of that gaki. I swear, he's loud, annoying, brash and definitely the most dense man I've met since his father. Why in the hell would I want to stay here any longer than I have to, if he's not going to be here? He's the one who wants to be hokage, not me. I'm here to keep the chair warm 'til the brat takes over. That's it."

The serious look she received from Jiraiya, however, made Tsunade sigh. "Hime, Konoha needs a hokage. I'm not respected enough, Danzo's in a wheelchair and looks like he's never going to get those bandages off. The only other ninja in Konoha who might have a chance in hell of becoming Hokage, other than you, is Kakashi. And I've been looking over his records with his team, and I'll tell you now: that boy is not fit to lead a genin cell, let alone a hidden village. Just look it over when you're sober sometime, I think you'll find a number of interesting facts about the team that our gaki is on."

Nodding absently, Tsunade glanced over to the closed door. "That does actually sound surprisingly serious, coming from you, Jiraiya. There is one thing I was looking over, before I gave that mission to Nara and Naruto yesterday." Jiraiya nodded, motioning for her to continue. "We've got a sound kunoichi in the T&I department. Her name is Kin Tsuchi. Would you believe that Naruto and the Hyuuga girl met her in the hospital after the prelim round in the chunin exam?"

Jiraiya grinned. "Really now... Got a picture? The gaki was telling me he'd met a girl in the hospital when he was visiting the Hyuuga heiress." Tsunade growled and the man lifted his hands in an effort to placate her. "Just kidding. Yes, he did mention a girl from Oto. It sounded like the three of them hit it off pretty well. I even heard the girl helped, or tried to rather, against other Oto nin that had attacked the hospital. For a genin in the chunin exam, she wasn't very well trained or prepared." He stopped, a look of comprehension coming to his eyes.

Tsunade, however, just watched him curiously. "What? You didn't just have a heart attack, did you?"

"No, but I just remembered something from the invasion. When sensei managed to defeat the first and the second hokages, and seal Orochimaru's arms, we found something interesting about the hokages that our old teammate managed to bring back to life. They were merely shells, powered by the people sacrificed within them. They acted as a battery for reviving the corpses. The ones inside were two of the Oto's genin team. Her partners."

"So that third coffin I read about...?"

Jiraiya nodded. "It had no one in it. It was a bluff, but it's not unlikely that he meant to use this Kin girl to do the same thing as had happened with her teammates. It wouldn't have worked, but it was a bluff that forced sensei to waste his chakra and strength to stop from happening anyway."

Tsunade frowned. "Wouldn't have worked? Why's that?"

"Because, hime. The other hokages died of normal causes. The fourth, on the other hand? His soul was taken by the Shinigami itself. I don't know what would've happened there. I do know that his ashes weren't there. Orochimaru, nor any of his spies, ever had access to them. I think it was a bluff, and that's all we can hope it to have been." Jiraiya smiled. "Anyway, we have a sound kunoichi. What's the report say?"

"She's a genjutsu specialist, uses senbon needles and bells to use her genjutsu. Doesn't seem to have any real taijutsu skills or anything outside of the Shadow Senbon jutsu when it comes to ninjutsu abilities." Tsunade frowned. "She's barely better than a fresh from the academy genin, in all. Her team was never a team for longer than a month before the exam took place, and they only performed two missions together before being sent to our village for the exam. According to her, they were sent to kill Sasuke after he'd been given his curse seal. Sasuke woke up and took out one of her teammate's arms, and she 'toyed' with Haruno for a bit before the Haruno girl cut her own hair to escape just before then."

"Anyway, long story cut short, she lost to Choji Akimichi in the prelims- you can imagine how, I think. It's unknown if she was ever found or approached by Orochimaru while she was recovering, but obviously he decided she wasn't worth the effort of taking from the hospital in order to go through with that resurrection jutsu he has. After the invasion, she was questioned by Mitarashi and Ibiki, and has been there ever since. Their reports suggest that the girl wants nothing to do with Oto anymore, but she doesn't think she has a place here, either."

Jiraiya nodded once, slowly. "Sounds vaguely familiar. The girl's a fish outta water and certainly needs a place to be. Honestly, she hasn't actually done anything illegal by Konoha standards, has she? And she attempted to protect the hospital. That gives her a few points, in my opinion. Good points, no less. So... what do you want to do?"

Tsunade grinned. "Well, why not do with her what we did with the Suna siblings? We can pardon her. Obviously, she doesn't have any position in Oto worth a damn, if what you say about her teammates is true. She is merely a genin, and an orphan from what she says. She has no ties to Orochimaru anymore, even if she had once. No curse seal, either. Inoichi's scans suggest that she has told the truth in every encounter, and she is beyond angry at Sound." Jiraiya couldn't help the slow smile that came to his face as he appeared to understand what Tsunade was after. "Yep. She might only be a genin, but that means she's basically a clean slate to work with. The girl has a gift with genjutsu and she could even become an excellent ninja if she is trained well and can learn to work with others."

"So you want to instate her as a Leaf genin?" Tsunade hesitated when Jiraiya said that, and then shrugged. Jiraiya frowned. "Wait a second. Are you planning ahead?" She grinned.

"You got it. I don't think we can hold back the tides this time, but we can ready a ship for when the gaki is forced to leave port. And if I can't leave, and you can't take him, then we need to send someone to go with the brat. He isn't strong enough to face the world yet... He'd need to at least make chunin first." Tsunade smiled. "No, we need to find someone whom we can trust with his safety, and those who would go with him. This Kin-girl is a possibility. She didn't attack him when they were in the Forest of Death. Naruto doesn't hold a grudge for long, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they became friends at some point."

The toad sage nodded in understanding. "Well, if we're going to do that, then there's only one real choice. Not only do we need Kakashi here, he can't be trusted with the training of any ninja. I'd recommend putting his lazy ass back to working in ANBU. Haruno might be a choice to send with Naruto, but I don't think it's a good one. She's not that strong, overall. Only her intelligence is keeping her a genin and I honestly have never heard nor seen any real progress from the girl. That is, of course, a result of Kakashi's teaching prowess. Or lack of, anyway. Other than the Ichiraku's, I can only think of one person that we can trust to take care of the boy." Jiraiya thought for a moment. "Maybe two. But she doesn't know Naruto as well as he does. And Naruto listens to him."

"Right. I had been considering taking on an apprentice, but I don't know if she even wants to remain a ninja now. I'll consider her for the job in a month. She was, and I don't know how, but she was close to the Uchiha. He didn't even give her more than a glance, but she liked him far more than a fangirl probably ever should." Tsunade sighed and hung her head. "She reminds me far too much of someone I've been trying to forget about. And who's the guy you're talking about? I haven't had time to go over all of Naruto's records yet."

Jiraiya laughed, and Tsunade looked and glared at her old teammate. "Yeah, there's lots of parallels in Team 7, that's for sure. Of course, some of those are completely gone now, with Sasuke out of the picture. From now on, it's a whole new game for the genin. All of them. As for who I'm talking about, it won't take long. Pull out his academy file. It's about six inches thick worth of paper, can't miss it."

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. Except in this game, it's kill or be killed."

* * *

Two days passed as news of the mission managed to circulate throughout the village. Jiraiya's sources scoured through Konoha, bringing news of various small meetings between the surviving civilian council members and other, influential persons. Several had been done at the behest of Koharu and Honmura, and although fewer in number, even Danzo had been reported out and among the civilians to speak with the merchants and minor nobles and clan members.

For one particular Kunoichi, the past two days had meant little more than time that had been spent at the hospital. She put in training in the early morning and afternoon, assisting her team with the reconstruction efforts and helping to remove various seals and undetonated explosive tags from around the outside of Konoha's walls, to make the forest safe for all once more. But in the early hours of the evening, she brought herself to the hospital, tired yet clean after bathing at home, to visit the one that had suffered the most during the invasion and the recent mission... the failed mission, through no fault of those that had taken it.

Even now, the body on the bed rested, sedated as medications worked throughout his body to facilitate the regeneration of his internal organs and skin. The way that the boy's hair had been cut and mismatched upon his return to the village, due to the damage sustained by the last of the Kaguya clan, had been dealt with her merely yesterday. Now, his hair was more manageable, still spiky but far shorter and now looking more like an actual haircut than half of a freshly cut lawn.

Bandages covered over half of his body now- less than before, but as bones knit back together and pink skin showed its freshness against the tanned, uncalloused epidermis that had been there before, Tsunade had ordered to let the boy's body breathe, rather than simply rest wrapped in bandages and gauze. They were changed once a day, starting today, and it had already been done before the shy kunoichi had arrived. She blushed when she remembered waking in this room just yesterday, a blush on her face as she realized where she was (and had no reason to actually be in the hospital, since she was uninjured).

That had been embarassing for the Hyuuga heiress, but she had appreciated what their hokage had done for her. Now, however, Hinata sat beside Naruto's bed, telling the boy about his day. The door to the room was closed, but she knew that they were being watched. She didn't need to activate her dojutsu to know that, given that ANBU were stationed outside the door... and the single large window that let in the sunset as the sun fell down slowly over the horizon.

"I h-hope y-you don't m-mind, Naruto. But, I b-brought dinner a-and it i-is f-far b-better heated than c-cold." she said, smiling softly as her cheeks flushed red. She was famished, having had only a light lunch, and had gone out to get something to eat today. The two at the ramen stand had even given her the bowl of ramen for free, and as she pulled the bowl out from the sealed scroll that she'd been given by the Ichirakus', she failed to note the way that Naruto's nose twitched a little from the scent.

"Itadakimasu." Hinata said quietly, after setting the bowl down on the nearby table and snapping the chopsticks apart.

"Ita...daki... ram'n..."

The kunoichi spun in place, her eyes wide in shock as she heard that voice. So quiet, soft... familiar, yet to her ears, as foreign as someone from Kiri. Her heart beat quickly as she saw the boy's eyes open slightly, looking toward her. "H-hi, Hinata." He gave as much of a smile as he could, but years of watching the boy told her one thing. As someone who was constantly hurt, berated, and attacked both verbally, physically, and emotionally, this boy was the strongest person she'd ever met. The truth in his smile now made her smile in return.

Shaking, the Hyuuga kunoichi reached for his hand. Bandaged as his hand was, he could not grasp strongly, she found. But she squeezed gently, and his fingers flexed in response. "Naruto... Thank kami." she gasped, her lack of stuttering escaping the notice of the both of them even as the door opened.

"Holy... Geez, Tsunade. I know you told me he'd been hurt and practically gutted, but hell. I wasn't expecting this." came a certain old geezer's voice, prompting both genin to look up and over to the door. Their hands seperated quickly even as Jiraiya chuckled and began to write in a little notebook he seemed to always have with him. That lasted until a smack upside the back of his head knocked the toad sage to the floor, Tsunade walking over the lecher and smiling to the two of them.

"H-how..."

The slug princess smiled to Hinata. "ANBU, remember? I was informed as soon as he woke up. Now..." and she looked back to Naruto, who gave her a grin in response.

"Still wan' the hat, baa-chan." he joked, and then frowned. "Is ever'one okay, baa-chan?"

She laughed, and was joined by Jiraiya as he picked himself off the floor and walked over with his old teammate. "Not even awake five minutes and still wanting to be hokage. Well, let's not worry about the hat yet. To answer the question... yes. Choji's doing fine and Kiba's recovering. Neji is in a coma right now, but we will pull him out of it in a few days. Shikamaru..."

Naruto's eyes went wide when Tsunade trailed off, and the old lady enjoyed the moment of silence before she gave him a grin. "He broke his pinky finger. He's expected to recover in about a year or so. As lazy as that Nara is, I think that's a reasonable expectation."

Hinata giggled and Naruto at least attempted to laugh, though he immediately groaned and felt as if someone had punched him in the chest. With a kunai. "Okay, no more of the laughing for now. Whoever said that was the best medicine had never met Tsunade." Jiraiya commented, but was still grinning at Tsunade's joke.

Naruto's smile fell, and Hinata looked back to him. "N-naruto? W-wh-what's wrong?"

He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't form. After a few seconds, he frowned. "Sasuke?"

"Kid... it was too late by the time you got there and took the lid off that barrel thing. He didn't make it." Jiraiya replied, then sighed as tears started to form in the blonde's blue eyes. "Sorry, Naruto, but we need to get you back to sleep for a bit. You need to heal, and tormenting yourself about this isn't gonna let you do it." A second after that, Naruto's eyes closed and he was asleep after Tsunade used a genjutsu technique on him.

Hinata glared at the two sannin, and while Jiraiya smiled, Tsunade shook her head. "Hinata, he does need his rest and sleeping lets him recover faster. Also, I've been asked by your primary care doctor to take care of a follow up on you later today. She had some concerns about how you are doing after your last check up from the chunin exam. You can have your dinner if you like, but in an hour I want to meet you in the waiting room at the front of the hospital. Don't worry, this shouldn't take too long. It looks like you've been doing quite well since then, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

The genin nodded and Tsunade smiled. "Good. Now, I know you've been on restricted duty with your team, so if all goes well, then this check-up may clear you for standard missions again. Of course, now that Kiba is recovering, it may be a little while before your team can get to that as well." The Hyuuga hesitated, and Jiraiya took note of that.

"Well, I'm off. I've got some errands to run, Tsunade, so you know where to find me if you need me." Grinning, the perverted sage headed out of the room, waving a goodbye even as the grinding of teeth could be heard from Tsunade.

"A-ah... hokage-sama? Wi-will i-it be o-okay i-if I... um, th-that is..."

Tsunade watched her, amused at the girl's stuttering. On one hand, it was cute. On the other hand, it also represented an underlying problem that she could remember from the recordings of her team during the chunin exam. "Hm?"

Hinata swallowed softly, stealing a glance to the sleeping blonde ninja before looking back to Tsunade. "M-may I c-continue to v-visit Naruto?" Tsunade's smile returned in force.

"Of course. You woke the gaki up, Hinata. You're more than welcome here anytime." was the response, before she looked to the steaming bowl of ramen that was quickly cooling off. "You'd better get to eating, or Naruto might wake up and ask for a bite." She gave the blushing genin a grin and then began to walk off. "Oh, before I completely forget..." Hinata turned to face the hokage. "I want to ask you a few questions about Kin later."

"Kin... Tsuchi?" Hinata asked, and the hokage nodded. "I... d-don't kn-know her a-all th-that well. B-but, I'll a-answer wh-what I can."

* * *

The door opened and the light flashed brightly overhead as the figure of an old man came into view. The girl on the mattress groaned, sat up and glanced to the door. The next thing she knew, the old man gave a slight nod and a package was tossed into the room. "Kin Tsuchi. Put on some clothes and we'll talk. Konoha would like to extend an invitation to you today."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: I am, I must admit, rather surprised at the reception I've received for this story so far. Lots of favorites, even more author alerts. And... um. 4 reviews. In response to Alec McDowell's review, at least as far as the number of characters going with Naruto, I don't want to try and keep track of too many personalities and people all at once- it could get difficult to give them all enough screen time, if I was to do so. As for the Toad contract, I do have something in mind regarding that, so we'll just see what happens. At the moment, however, it's not a pressing matter.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. I don't own the characters, and I'm not doing this for money. If you paid money for this story in paper or digital form, you've been screwed over by someone else. Any similarities of the storyline to other stories is likely to be incidental, a parody, or outright 'borrowed' from that author- this is a fanfic, and when it comes to fan-written stuff, almost everything's been done. Any similarities of this story and events in real life are completely unrelated and, since this fic is based off a manga, absolutely unlikely in any given sense.

Chapter 2

* * *

"So, let me get this straight. I have options? I can join Konoha as a genin or get sent to a nin jail for... how long did you say?" The girl asked. She was now wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of baggy, light green pants that dangled just above her feet. The old man that sat across from her at the table simply nodded.

"For roughly six months to a year. You did kill, but that was during an accepted portion of the chunin exams. You did not, however, join your village in their attempt to invade and instead became quite useful in helping to protect the hospital. Granted, you did not manage to kill any of the attackers, but the hokage is not heartless." He grinned. "She is a medic nin, after all. The fact that you helped to stem the tide there made it possible for the medics there to keep working and to save more lives with chakra that wasn't needed to attack rather than heal." The girl nodded slowly. She'd heard of medic nin- but the ones in Oto were more quacks than anything. The local clinics were far cheaper and of higher quality, and that wasn't factoring what she knew of the technology and skills of the people here in Konoha.

Kin smiled a little bit, and then the old man shook his head. Her smile faltered. "You were, however, sloppy. Even worse than most of the genin in the exam, actually. I am glad that you have some decent skills with ninja tools, including the senbon and kunai that you used. We've been reviewing the records and to be honest, no one was impressed with your performance, Tsuchi." The girl frowned. "Your taijutsu is poor and your speed is fairly lacking. Your genjutsu techniques are your strong point, but you require the ability to use sound via bells to utilize it effectively. And your strength does not even compare to the girl whom you forced to cut her hair in the forest."

At the sight of the crestfallen ex-genin, Jiraiya smiled. "But that's what makes you interesting, you know." She looked up to see his grin and just watched him in confusion. "You're practically a blank slate. Genjutsu is an art style, you need a strong mind and imagination to go with it. There aren't many genjutsu specialists here. In fact, only one jounin that I'm aware of actually specializes in genjutsu. Other than that, you could be taught any number of things. And one of those things is going to be taijutsu. Genjutsu is fine and all, but let's face it. If someone breaks it, you have to defend yourself somehow."

"That's a good point. My old sensei wasn't much for straight up fighting, and there weren't many taijutsu instructors in Oto. Most of the genin use ninjutsu over taijutsu." Kin replied, still thinking over the offer provided to her.

Jiraiya watched her for a moment, then leaned in slightly. "Okay, I want you to know something right now, so listen up. Konoha is going to be transferring a few ninja to Suna soon. If you decide to become a Konoha genin, it's pretty likely that you'll be one of those transferred. Not too many people here are too thrilled with the idea of working with someone from a village that attacked ours, as one might imagine." She gave a nod, and the lecher continued. "We'll give you about a day to decide. I suspect that we will need an answer from you by tomorrow evening, I'll be sure to stop by if you haven't informed one of us by then. The hokage needs to finalize orders, after all."

Kin nodded slowly, and then looked around slowly. "May I ask a question?"

Jiraiya gave an amused look. "You just did, you know. But go ahead, ask another."

She smirked at the old man's attempt at a joke. "Do I have to stay here? I mean, if I haven't done anything really wrong..."

"You've got a point. The hokage was thinking ahead, in this case, so here's the deal. Until you make a decision, we're going to let you stay at a hotel. You'll be watched by ANBU, of course. Don't leave the village, don't get into any fights, and all that stuff. You're welcome to explore the village as much as you'd like, but be responsible about it. If you do anything to get into trouble, that's not going to look so good when it comes time to letting you make your decision." He tossed a key to the girl, who caught it with a small, growing smile coming to her face. "The hotel's called the Petal & Leaf Inn. Room 109. You will have a curfew of 10pm to be back in the room at. Your meals at the hotel will be paid for, so don't worry about that, but if you want to eat elsewhere then you better find a friend."

Kin nodded slowly, and Jiraiya stood. "And yes, there are two people I know of that you could call friends here in the village. Stay away from pinky, though. Pretty sure she didn't appreciate the haircut you made her give herself. I'd go check the hospital though, the two that you know are there. The blonde brat's in pretty bad shape, but he'll live. The ANBU keeping watch over him will know you're coming, if you decide to visit." The old man headed for the door, waving for her to follow him. "C'mon. I'll show ya the way out of here and to the inn. From there, you're on your own."

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, I've got those forms you requested. I can't believe you actually asked for some paperwork for once." came the voice of her young brunette assistant, before she entered the hokage's office. The blonde woman behind the desk just groaned, setting the saucer that she'd been holding into the drawer and gave it a little push to hide what she'd really been doing ever since Shizune'd been sent on that errand.

"Thanks. This should be the last of things that we need to handle immediately." she muttered, taking the offered papers and then dipping the pen back into the ink well before starting to work on the first one.

Shizune frowned as she watched her mentor getting to work on the paper as if the woman was possessed. "What are you doing? I've never seen you needing to get something done like this before."

"The brat. When's the council meeting today?"

"In a few hours. There's been talk of a village-wide funeral for the death of the Uchiha, so that's probably one of their hot-topics." Tsunade gave a snort at that idea and set the first page away, starting work on the second paper.

"Well, that's fine. Let 'em cry over the destruction of one of the oldest clans. Wonder if they'll do the same when the Senju die off as well?" Tsunade muttered, her pen moving at a rather hazardous rate along the paper in various locations. "How's the brat doing? Any better now?"

"Yep, the kid's looking a lot better. You'd almost never know he had holes in his... well, yeah. He's looking a lot better now." Shizune grinned. "And yes, the Hyuuga girl is still with him. It's really kind of cute, ya know?"

"Yeah, cute as hell." Tsunade agreed, and got to work on the next paper that had been brought to her. "But he doesn't have a frickin' clue, I think. Not yet anyway. And she's so shy that it's almost impossible that he'd ever notice how she feels about him. For a gaki, he's strong, but he's not that aware of how people around him feel about him. Not that I blame the kid. We've both seen how he's treated here and I've read sensei's journals dealing with Naruto. It's a wonder that he hasn't attempted to run from Konoha by now. Or kill anyone who attacks him, for that matter."

Shizune frowned at that realization, nodding once, slowly, in response. "I suppose you're right. But transfers? Sunagakure doesn't even have a kage yet, their council is still trying to keep their village from completely falling apart. And their daimyo isn't helping at all, the man is sending even more missions away from their own village. Some to us, some to Iwa."

Tsunade shrugged. "I know, I know. And we're taking them, too, since we're punishing Suna for attacking the village. I probably shouldn't have put up the siblings for a pardon to get them to help save the retrieval team, but what's done is done." One last scratch of pen on paper and she nodded, grinning a little. "Still, what we've managed to do will not only buy us time, but also gets us a jump on whatever the council tries to throw our way. We'll be able to turn whatever they come up with into something that'll take at least two or three days to come to a head, which is more than enough time to handle everything."

"What are you talking about?" Tsunade just gave Shizune a grin.

"Well, that's for you to learn. Oh, right. I need you to go and ask Iruka Umino to visit me at his earliest convenience- if that means dragging his butt out of the Academy and having to teach his class for him, then that's what you'll need to do, Shizune. This is a very important mission that I need him to prepare for."

Shizune blinked. "He hasn't had a mission outside of Konoha in years, Tsunade-sama! Aren't you worried that he's rusty?" Tsunade just gave her a smirk.

"Someone's forgotten that out of all our ANBU and jounin, only one ninja has consistently caught Naruto on over seventy percent of his pranks. And he might be more inclined to desk work and teaching these days, but I have reason to believe he's pulling a Nara. Now go get him! We don't have extra time yet." Shizune nodded and practically disappeared as she ran to the academy to give a certain teacher his summons.

With the paperwork finished, for now at least, Tsunade glanced to another file that she'd been working on prior to her assistant's arrival. "Team 7. My, how things go crazy around you." _I'll be needing to have a talk with Kakashi after I've got things settled with Umino_.

* * *

The next few hours were a blur of activity for several members of Konoha. Three ninja were sent by Tsunade to deliver a message to Suna as quickly as possible- they were the fastest couriers she had available. With one being an Inuzuka and his partner, it was likely that the message would arrive before nightfall tomorrow. One chunin in particular was raiding a few places for various things that he'd been assigned to deal with, but was now at the hokage's tower. He hadn't been there since the Tsunade had become the godaime hokage, since she had her own assistant who handled most every day things.

Iruka Umino was not an idiot. To be a teacher in the position of training would-be genins how to fight using their minds and their bodies, one couldn't afford to be. Many of the children he trained came from shinobi families and clans that had special abilities- though none these days were quite up to par with the current king of pranks, at least three were attempting to usurp Naruto Uzumaki's title. It didn't help that the leader of the little pack was the sandaime's grandson and had access to a jounin tutor already, so the new prankster in town had a leg-up on Naruto at that age.

Still, as dedicated as he was to Konoha, the chunin had been around to see its citizens at their worst. He knew what it was like to live, both with and without parents. The village wasn't the nicest place to those without a family- he'd had enough orphaned students to know that fact all too well. Walking up the stairs, Shizune let him into the office and closed the door behind them, leaving the scarred chunin in the room alone with the fifth hokage and herself before she set up the privacy seal.

"Ah, Iruka. Thanks for coming on such short notice. Did you manage to do as we requested?" Tsunade asked, giving the younger man a smile as he nodded.

"Yes, hokage-sama. I've got the supplies and emptied the accounts as you asked me to. But..." and Iruka frowned as he thought back to the sealed scroll he had packed. Naruto's entire life savings were in there, though it was off-putting to say the least when he considered just how happy the banker had been to unload the account on him. "But, why? I know Naruto's in the hospital, but isn't that all the more reason to keep the money in the bank?"

Tsunade shrugged slowly, moving to stand before turning and facing out the window. "Iruka Umino. You were one of that gaki's first real friends... almost like family, along with the Ichiraku's, is that not correct?"

"Yes?"

She smiled, though neither of the two might see it. "Modest, fast, a teacher and one of the few in the village that has ever even attempted to protect one Naruto Uzumaki. And, unless I miss my guess, you've improved considerably since the day you took that shuriken to the back. How is that injury, by the way? Has it been giving you any issues?"

Iruka shook his head. "No, it healed fine. Just a small scar from the tip."

"Why haven't you taken the jounin test? From the reports I've had, you should be ready for the promotion." She smirked and then waved her hand idly as Iruka attempted to respond. "No, don't worry about that. I've read your file and what sensei thought of you. I never would've expected that he'd be happy to leave you as a chunin so you could teach. But, that makes sense."

Iruka smiled. "Well, I have been a teacher for several years now. At first, it's because I wanted a way to stay in Konoha more often. But honestly, I love to teach the kids at the academy. I feel like I'm doing the best job in the world, giving them the basics and letting them grow into real ninja." The scarred man shrugged afterward. "Though I think we let them out of the academy far too easily. The basic requirements for becoming genin are too low. I can only worry about how well my ex-students do once they're out of my hands."

"I agree." Tsunade turned to face him. "The standards are far too low, and I believe that's a result of the civilian council having a say in the matter. Bunshin, henge, and kawarimi are absolute necessities, but they are the most basic of basics when it comes to jutsu. And the academy doesn't even cover genjutsu in any reasonable way that could give a fresh-genin a chance to really recognize one." Both Iruka and Shizune nodded in agreement, and Tsunade smirked.

"That's just something that we will need to touch on in the next council session, in a few hours. Anyway, Umino, I feel I should ask you something. What would you think about a transfer to another academy?" She placed her hands on the desk and leaned over slightly as she continued. "What I'm about to tell you is likely to become the truth in a short while, so it's worth telling you now why I had you go out and pack up Naruto's things and to take his money out of the bank. As soon as he's healed, he and a select few will be going to Suna. Originally, I had meant to give him his choice as to where to go, but let's be honest. The kid's got guts but isn't exactly a sharpened kunai."

The sole chunin in the room chuckled. "True, but he's not dull by any means. One look at the list of his greatest pranks ever is enough to tell anyone that. The kid has some skill, but it's nothing that anyone's ever taught him. Then, look at his fight in the chunin exam against Neji Hyuga. There's potential, but even if he was taught by Jiraiya himself, he's yet to achieve it." Then he shook his head as he remembered her question about a transfer. "So I'd be sent to Suna with Naruto? Is that really wise to do? I mean, they are not exactly friendly with Konoha anymore, are they?"

Tsunade gave him a wry smile. "The boy trusts you, doesn't he?" Iruka nodded. "I'm glad. That's why I'm going to trust you as well. Ready yourself for the transfer, the paperwork's already been sent. I expect, within a few days, that we'll be forced to move Naruto to Suna no matter what else may happen. And no, it is not solely by my decision that this move is forced upon him."

"No, and I think it's time that we let someone else know about Naruto's burden... and I don't mean the one inside of him." came a voice from the window sill, and all three in the room turned to see Jiraiya stepping off of it and into the room. Tsunade shook her head.

"Jiraiya, are you sure? It's not safe to let that information out to just anyone."

The toad sage gave the hokage a smirk. "Hell, it's getting harder to not see the resemblance than it is to ignore it, hime. If we don't tell him now, he'll figure it out in no time. Our esteemed teacher here is no idiot, nor is he blind. And what's more, he's old enough to know what to look for anyway." The sannin looked over to Iruka and smiled. "This is an S-class village secret, Iruka. You let this out to just anyone without the hokage's permission, and you know what happens."

"S-class..." Iruka reiterated, and then nodded slowly. "So that's it, huh? The yondaime?" Jiraiya nodded slowly.

"Told ya he's smart. Granted, it's gonna be tough to keep the villagers from knowing who his father is while he's growing up even more, but sending the boy from the village, either to train or live, will give us plenty of time to get ready for things over the next few years." Iruka nodded slowly to Jiraiya's words, though he wasn't entirely sure as to what the older man was talking about.

Shizune was next to speak up. "Wait. If we're sending Naruto to Suna, who's going to train him? Jiraiya-sama, wouldn't you be the best choice? No offense, Iruka, but you don't really have the expertise needed to help him much more." Iruka smiled a little bit at that and shook his head.

"That's a good point, actually. I'm only a chunin, despite what hokage-sama says. I'm not really qualified to teach Naruto much more. Maybe in genjutsu, but he doesn't have high enough control compared to his chakra reserves to manage any of the techniques I could probably teach him. I can help hone the basics of his chakra control, refine his taijutsu perhaps, and maybe give him a few low-rank ninjutsu techniques. But the kid is a quick learner, after a year or so I would need to be replaced by someone."

Tsunade nodded. "A good point, Iruka. Jiraiya, I think we'll need you to go and back-up Iruka in roughly 10 months." The old man sighed and shrugged.

"Fine. I'll need at least that much time to get as much handled as I can on my end." he gave a serious look to Iruka and nodded slowly. "Alright. I'm going to give you a list of things that the boy will need to accomplish by the time I arrive to back you up. You can expect to have the list sometime before the end of the night. Everything on the list will need to be done by the time I get to Suna so I can test him on it all. I'll also be leaving a few other things with you as well. You'll need them, if he ever gets out of hand."

Iruka frowned at the insinuation that Naruto might go so far out of hand that he'd need to be dealt with by something that only a sannin could provide, but nodded absently. "Thank you. If you don't mind my asking, would it be possible to get some scrolls as well? If I'm going to be teaching Naruto as best I can, I'd like to make sure I have a few things to work with. I'll need scrolls on several styles of taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. I know, I know that Naruto can't really use genjutsu thanks to his lacking chakra control, but I'm getting the feeling that it's not just the two of us, is it?"

Tsunade grinned. "Well, what a clever guy we have here. Guess it's a good thing you're in on this then. Alright. Make sure to pack what you need, and be certain not to forget anything. If you actually need more equipment... and in that regard, make sure to pick out something for Naruto to wear. His clothes he'd been wearing were torn to shreds during his battle. And try to find something with a lot less orange... keep some, but try something a bit darker. The kid's hair is bright enough to act like a torch at night, there's no need to make him a moving target."

Iruka smiled at the thought and nodded slowly. "I... think I've got an idea of what to get Naruto." He gave a surprisingly evil grin to the two sannin. "Who remembers the fourth's cloak?"

Jiraiya blinked even as Tsunade's head fell onto the desk, and all four began to laugh. Konoha would get a glimpse of what was once lost, one more time... even if there would be no public announcement regarding Naruto's lineage.

A phantom of the past would return, for one time only. Iruka couldn't help but to wonder how Naruto would feel being a part of his biggest prank ever.

* * *

The sound of water, dripping from some pipes in the distance, could be heard as he wandered along the path. He knew this path, somehow. The shallow water at his feet, barely a few inches deep, made his shoes wet as he sloshed along on his intended way. He could see the bars of the seal as he got closer to the lair deep within his mind, and the eyes of the being trapped within him were crimson as a growl emanated from it.

"**So, my jailor arrives again, so soon after partaking of my rent.**" Naruto smirked as he came closer to the bars, but remained a good distance away as the Kyuubi's energy lashed out toward him. Another growl escaped the beast. "**Your body is in ill repair, boy. For a human, you certainly seem to have no regard for your pathetic life. Remember, we are tied together, you and I. A weak mortal body is no good for an immortal like myself**."

"Yeah, I know. Look, I know you hate me and I sure don't give a crap about you, but you're right. We're in this together. So..." Naruto trailed off, and the Kyuubi behind the bars gave what looked like a grin to the genin.

"**So?**"

Naruto nodded to himself slightly. "Look, you did a lot of killing when you went crazy in Konoha. You can't do that while in me. I can tell you're one angry bastard, so let's face it. I don't like you. At all. But I have to live with you. So, if I gotta live with a demon that wants out to kill everything in it's way..."

The Kyuubi's eyes blinked. "**Demon, you say? Has your hokage, nay, your teachers taught you anything about the bijuu?**" it asked, and Naruto smirked.

"Only that the tailed beasts are forces of destruction that attack anyplace that has humans. What else is there to know? You demons destroy everything in your path. That's what I've heard in class, anyway."

The Kyuubi growled and shook its head slowly. "**Your teachers and hokage leave much to be desired ****when it comes to what you learn, kit. If all of what you hear is of when the bijuu attack humans and their ****homes, then what do you believe a bijuu does when not attacking humans?**" Naruto's silence and oddly thoughtful look made demon settle down behind the bars. "**I cannot see what happens beyond this forsaken seal, kit. Other than when you come here, I can only see glimpses of what has happened to you recently. When we bijuu are left alone by humans, we live in peace in the wilds. We are powerful beings, and humans are but inconveniences to us. We are not good, nor are we evil. We simply live.**"

Naruto shook his head. "It doesn't matter what you say to me, Kyuubi. You won't escape from me, and I'm not letting you go. I've got friends here and you won't hurt them. I'll handle you, like I always have!" _As for being taught... dunno, that might've been my fault_.

"**Kit, I am not threatening you like before. There is no reason to do so. I hate being imprisoned but I can tell now that you are not my jail by your own choosing. There are few beings I truly hate. Those with the red eyes, for example, are amongst those I cannot stand. The man who imprisoned me in you as well, though I respect the reason for it.**" The giant fox lifted it's head to stare at the boy. "**I long for a chance to taste freedom, if but for a short while. It has been since the day I was trapped inside you as a baby since I last breathed truly fresh air. To smell something. Even here, where it looks like a sewer, I have no true senses. We speak mentally, not vocally, to each other and that does little to satiate my need to live.**"

The blonde boy watched the fox carefully, nodding slowly. "I'd hate it too. I've had my own share of bad times, you know."

"**I do not know. As I said, I know almost nothing about your life, save for when you are near death or when you visit me here.**" The beast growled again, in aggravation at its lot in life.

Naruto nodded and then gave the 'demon' a smirk. "I'll see what I can do about this place. Dunno what to do, and... well, is there any way to show you my memories?" The Kyuubi watched him and then suddenly laughed.

"**Just like that, you would give me a look into your memories? A chance to use your senses to see, feel, taste, smell, and hear what you have heard? It would give me insight into you, kit. That would be dangerous if I wished to use such knowledge against you.**" Naruto shrugged.

"You're trapped here. You owe me rent, and you can't even do anything to me other than help me heal, can you? I'm not worried about showing you what my life has been like. You'd be the only one outside of jiji and one or two ANBU who'd know."

The Kyuubi glared at his jailor. "**For now, yes. I cannot do to you anything that you will not allow me to do. The way my chakra reinforces yours and can be used is something that you allow, and that cannot be undone. I could do more, but that will require payment. From you.**"

Naruto looked skeptical at that declaration, but after a moment, curiosity got the better of the pre-teen. "Like... what?"

"**Right now, you are barely different from other humans. You have my chakra, and that is all that your body can handle of what I can do to you. If you were to let me, say, alter your body somewhat so that I might obtain the ability to use my senses again, that would also provide you with greater access to my power without rendering your body to ash within mere moments of being flooded by my youki and chakra.**"

"Uh..." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he glanced away for a second. "What's youki? Chakra I understand, but what the hell is a youki?"

An amused chuckle escaped the Kyuubi. "**Those who sought to keep me locked away knew little ****about the youki of a 'demon', it seems. Youki, kit, is what a bijuu's physical body is made from. Basically. It is interlinked with a bijuu's chakra, so cannot be extracted from a free bijuu. Only humans like you, or animals with a bijuu sealed within them, can handle it for any prolonged period of time. It is what makes a bijuu so durable and more or less unaffected by most human techniques.**" The blonde nodded slowly, and then shrugged.

"I don't really get it too well, but if it's the stuff that hurts so much when I draw on your chakra a lot, I guess it makes sense. Since I'm human and you're stuck in me, I can use it, but I can't handle it much. That about right?" the Kyuubi grunted in agreement. "Huh. So, what would you do if I allowed you to have access to my senses? What would happen? And you couldn't influence me by using them, could you?"

"**No, my ability to access your senses would be only that. But to access them, I would need to change your body physically to a small extent. I would not be able to influence you at all, nor overtake your body, using merely your senses. The damned seal would prevent anything like that from happening. The best I could do is make a connection with your awake mind**."

Naruo thought about it a little longer before a rumbling from his stomach made his hunger obvious. "I... dunno. But how about this? I'll let you see my memories, and next time I'm here we can talk about it again. How can we do this?"

The Kyuubi gave a grin and moved to the bars of the cage, one paw pressed against it. "**Place your paw... hand, anyway, against the bar here where mine is. And direct your memories toward me with your mind. That is all that is needed.**"

Following the instructions, Naruto blinked as a flash appeared between the two, and the boy suddenly disappeared from the depths of his mind. The fox behind the bars settled down and closed its eyes, reliving its keeper's memories within it's own mind, absorbing over 12 years of memories at a much faster rate than the human had.

The growling never reached Naruto's mind while the boy began to wake up in the real world.

* * *

The din in the conference room was almost deafening. It was the first time that the council had convened since the apparent defection of the last Uchiha had become well known in the village, and the civilian council members had attempted to convene emergency meetings ever since then.

"Shut the hell up! Sit down, and let's get this meeting started!" Bellowed the hokage, who stood at the head of the table. The clan heads were already composed and waiting, but the civilians took a moment longer to settle down. The three elders, Danzo and sensei's old teammates, sat between the hokage and the civilian leaders. To her left, between herself and the clan heads, stood Shizune. She looked to the paper and began as Tsunade finally sat down. Then, Tsunade placed a hand on Shizune's arm before she could start, and the younger woman sat instead.

"Alright, first off. I am going to be assigning some of our genin and a chunin to transfer over to Suna. It's part of a program that was designed by sen... I mean, the sandaime hokage years ago when our treaty was first signed, but never managed to get around to activating. I've already the chunin, who is one of the academy's teachers." Tsunade glanced around slowly. "If anyone here has a genin in their family who might like to join this program, then I am taking applicants at my office over the next few days. I've had a few genin already show interest, and so far only one has been selected."

Then the hokage sighed as the tension in the air rose. That was not what the council had been wanting to hear, but it was something that at least laid the groundwork for what was to come. It would be very important to the plans that she was working with Jiraiya on.

"The next order of business is unfortunate, but important. I regret to inform you all that the retrieval mission of Sasuke Uchiha was a partial failure. Despite Sasuke Uchiha's attempt to defect with the assistance of five Oto ninja, our own team sent to retrieve him managed to do so. Four Oto nin were killed, one captured. All but one of our ninja were badly wounded and near death, and required the assistance of a small group of ninja that I sent out to provide back-up." A low murmer floated through the council members on both sides of the group. "Sasuke Uchiha himself is dead."

"As such, the Uchiha seat upon the council is now gone. We shall handle that position on a later ocassion. We will also handle the status of the Uchiha's monetary status at the next council meeting, as well as their village holdings." she continued. "The captured ninja that was brought back has been interrogated and given us information regarding the attempted defection. It is now confirmed, without a doubt, that Orochimaru is the leader of Otogakure and it was to him that Sasuke Uchiha was going to."

Danzo held a hand up to placate the civilians near him, quieting those that were whispering before he spoke. "I have heard that the Uchiha's death was cause by Uzumaki's negligence in containing the sealed beast. Is that information correct?" the old bandaged man asked. Tsunade shook her head slowly.

"In a manner of speaking? Perhaps. He was tasked to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha, but was not the one put in charge of the mission itself. He managed to take the device that the Uchiha was sealed in, and I do mean 'sealed,' since it was covered with various fuuinjutsu markings that even Jiraiya has had trouble determining the purpose of. The barrel is still being investigated, I expect to have a full report as to it's purpose and design by the next weekly council meeting." Tsunade replied, folding her arms upon the table idly.

"The fact of the matter, lady hokage, is that Uzumaki is the prime reason why the Sharingan is now outside of Konoha's grasp. As the boy was the last loyal Uchiha, and the only remaining one is an S-rank criminal, this amounts to... genocide. As such, we must decide what to do with a genin who is willing, and capable, of killing a clan entirely." Danzo nodded slightly, sitting back in his seat. "As I see it, we have several options at the moment. One is to let him be trained by me. The boy's emotions run rampant within him, we all have seen this at different times. Allowing him to be trained by me will allow me to remove that tendency from the boy. He will be able to command and control that which is within him without striking fear into the citizens of the village."

_So, here's his attempt. Funny how it's nothing different than we've already expected._ Tsunade nodded slowly, and then glanced to a civilian that stood up. "Though Danzo-sama offers a possible route to salvaging the boy, we believe it best to that we respond to the boy's problems in a more... permanent manner, just as we have ever since that one day. Execute the boy. The civilians will never have to fear him, or that which he holds within him, again."

The hokage shook her head. "That last idea has to be the stupidest suggestion I've ever heard. Didn't the sandaime ever tell you what would happen if the boy's killed? There's a very real chance that if the boy's killed, the beast will be released instead of killed along with him. So, no. We won't be killing Naruto." She turned her gaze to Danzo, who merely nodded in return. "I am glad you agree, Danzo. However, the boy has proven quite strong without resorting to killing his emotions. Need I remind you of the invasion and his taking down the one-tailed Shukaku?" Tsunade smirked as the clan heads nodded. Several had been on hand to see the aftermath there, namely the Aburame clan head whom had saved his son from death by poison. Several others knew of it as well, namely the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. "And that is not including the death of an opponent that I would wager is nearly jounin-level in skill and ability, who was the last of the five sound nin that had been sent to bring the Uchiha to Orochimaru."

Tsunade waited a moment for the whispers from the civilians to die down, before she spoke again. "There is, however, another choice. Banishment, once he has recovered from the retrieval mission enough to leave Konoha. As of right now, ANBU are stationed to make certain that none who are not authorized may visit him... and so he cannot escape, either." That got the whispering going again. _Time to twist the kunai a bit more._ "By banishing him, he cannot directly harm Konoha. The boy has been nothing if not loyal to the village, from what I have read from the sandaime's own notes and journals. I refuse to see him as the perpetrator of genocide, in this case."

One member of the clan heads stood on that note, and all eyes turned to the man with the high-collared jacket and the dark glasses that covered his face and eyes. "It is illogical to blame Uzumaki as one whom has commited genocide. There is no emperical evidence to support the claim he was the one to kill the last Uchiha, and even if such evidence is provided, it was but one boy whom was killed. My clan will not support either choice of execution nor training by Danzo. It is also illogical to place blame upon the one who was not in charge of the mission itself, when it appears that Uzumaki is being singled out from the team that was sent." There were several nods from that side of the room as a few other clan heads supported his declaration.

Danzo nodded slowly. "Indeed, it does appear as if the civilians and myself are targeting the boy, this I will admit. But the boy is a known danger to all and he must know that his actions, or lack thereof, will have consequences that are above and beyond those that might be taken upon his peers." Danzo quieted as the Aburame finally sat back down at the table again. A number of the civilians nodded in agreement to that statement.

Tsunade nodded as Aburame sat down. "Well, that is good to know. Well, there's the options. Banishment, or... re-education by Danzo. Keep in mind that we will not be executing the boy- that gives a horrible punishment to genin who fail an A-rank mission, after all. We wouldn't want our genin to think that if they fail a tough mission that we will kill them rather than their opponents in such high stakes missions, woud we? It also suggests that we cannot give them room to make mistakes, when mistakes are how everyone learns the most in the shortest amount of time." Tsunade smirked. "The bonus to banishment is that we can rescind the decision in the future. If we give him up to Danzo, he may not retain his loyalty to Konoha. After all, without regard to emotions, that will give way to logic, and who knows how that might affect the boy in the future? The only other thing I can think of that might work out even better than that, which might be accepted by the council, is a long-term training trip."

"Then, why not allow the boy to join the program that you mentioned earlier, hokage-sama?" came another voice, this time from the fairly rotund form of the Akimichi clan head. "It sounds like that would be the best of both worlds- giving space for civilians from him and keeping them safe from Uzumaki in case he loses control, while keeping him as a reserve for our ninja forces and training him to become stronger and to gain more control over himself.. I figure it'd make more sense, and keep him loyal, if we didn't force him out of the village completely in the first place."

_Thank you, Choza!_ Tsunade smiled at the suggestion, and even amongst the civilians, the idea had several of the council nodding in agreement. _No village would force their jinchuuriki away permanently. Every village views them as a weapon rather than as people after all. If they sent Naruto away... hell, what chance would we have against any jinchuuriki with more than two tails?_ "An excellent suggestion, and one that I personally will endorse." _And one that I was hoping to hear someone suggest_.

"Unacceptable, lady hokage." Danzo stated, turning a glare to her. "If we send him elsewhere, the chances of his being captured, or perhaps his loyalty in the village waver, increase considerably!"

Tunade nodded. "This is true, but the alternatives are already known. By sending him to train with a teacher, and perhaps others his age in another village or land, then any whom might seek him will need to expend more resources to do so rather than simply knowing that he is here, just as he has been since he was born." She forestalled his attempt to interupt her by raising her own hand this time. "But nothing, Danzo. Naruto Uzumaki is a ninja. All ninja must weather the risk of being hunted at some point. Bingo Book or not. This will strengthen him and relieve our village of the pressure of harboring him. At some point, even Iwa will come to notice him, and you know what may come of that when they do."

Talk of Iwa always frightened the villagers, and the civilians in the room were no exception. Tsunade stood. "Very well then. I will give you all a day to consider the proposals. Remember, execution is not an acceptable option, so any who vote such will simply be wasting their vote. Now, on to the next order of business, please?"

Shizune stood. "The next order of business is the status of restoration of the academic sectors of the village."

The rest of the meeting continued on, but in the back of everyone's minds was the overwhelming issue: how best to remove the kyuubi brat from Konoha, while also not giving up on it's power all at the same time.

* * *

The white walls and the scent of cleaning solutions were what stood out in her mind as she arrived at the hospital. She shivered, a hand rising to her shoulder as she walked to the nurse's desk, where a woman with pale blonde hair sat. "Excuse me, could you tell me which room Uzumaki, Naruto is in?" she asked. Something about the woman seemed familiar, though she couldn't really place her. "Room 112. Take a left at the end of the hallway here, the room will be on the right hand side. Can't really miss it. Unless the ANBU know you are coming, you won't be allowed in."

The dark haired girl nodded slightly. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." It took only a moment for her to head down to the room and an ANBU with a boar mask just seemed to materialize from the wall. The ANBU member took one look at her and nodded, reaching to the door and letting her in. "Thank you." was all she said, before smiling as she saw the two that she'd met nearly three months ago... yet had not seen for almost two-thirds that time.

With the door opened, both the dark blue haired girl and the boy with bright yellow hair looked to see who it was. Neither of them said anything for a moment as she stepped inside, the door closing behind her. Only when it was fully shut did Hinata give her a small smile. Naruto still looked somewhat confused, though his face was still rather heavily bandaged and wrapped. Kin noticed the way that the boy's hand was free, and being held by the pale blue-haired girl. "Um... Hi?"

That was when Naruto grinned. "Kin? That you?" he asked, not nearly as loud or boisterous as she remembered. The raven-haired girl grinned, even as Hinata said hello as well. Kin didn't miss how Hinata's hand attempted to slip from the boy's a little, though his hand sought hers and grasped gently, yet firmly enough, to keep her hand in place.

"Yeah... Damn, kiddo. Someone sure had your tune when they got ya. How're you feeling?" Kin walked over and stood on the other side of the injured blonde, letting Hinata remain seated where she'd been.

Naruto's smile just attempted to grow, though somehow it seemed as if the bandages were keeping that from happening. "Better than yesterday and a lot better than before that." he quipped, which made Hinata smile even as Kin did the same. "Got him better than he got me, though."

"T-tha-that's t-the im-important part, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said, and squeezed the boy's hand with her own. Kin nodded in agreement.

"Hinata's right, Naruto. You dealt with the person trying to kill you, and he failed. That's how it needs to be. I'm glad you're doing better, though." The girl was quiet as she thought about what the old man had told her earlier in the day.

"I'd heard you were taken to T&I, Kin." Naruto said next, smiling softly. "I'm glad you're okay. Morino-san is one scary bastard. I was kinda worried, you know?"

Kin scoffed at those words, and watched as the blonde boy frowned. "I was an enemy ninja, Naruto. You shouldn't have been worried about me at the time. You had a lot of friends to worry about. We still hardly know each other." She smirked arrogantly. "After all, I could have been an enemy then, too."

"B-but, y-you w-weren't." Hinata piped up, looking at her curiously. The girl's pale eyes unnerved the raven-haired girl a little, even after they had been roommates in the hospital months ago. "A-and y-you aren't n-now, e-either. Y-your h-hitai-ate... y-you a-aren't w-wearing it n-now." Naruto nodded, realizing that Hinata was right.

Kin shrugged. "Well, it's not like I can go back to Otogakure. That snake-bastard would probably kill me in a second if he knew I was there. Actually, I got an offer to become a genin of Konoha this morning. I'm thinking about it." Naruto's jaw dropped even while Hinata smiled widely at the idea.

"Really? You?" he asked, and Kin nodded in response. He gave her a grin. "Well, hell, I say welcome to the village!" his wrapped up arm started to rise and he winced. Hinata looked back to him in concern and Kin shook her head.

"Well, like I said. Still thinkin' about it. If I do become a genin here, the hokage's probably gonna ship me off to Suna as part of some sort of program I was told about. Probably safer that way, for me anyway." She sat down somewhat on the window sill and just watched the two genin for a moment. "So, uh, what happened? I've been out of the loop for a while. What's happened since the invasion?"

Hinata exchanged a glance with Naruto, and then looked back to Kin. "W-well, t-the village h-has b-been busy re-rebuilding. T-the o-other d-day, o-one of N-Naruto's teammates at-attempted to leave Konoha. N-naruto w-was one o-of th-those sent to r-retrieve him." Hinata looked back to Naruto, who simply nodded once.

"Yeah... Sasuke decided to try and go to Orochimaru." Naruto looked to the ceiling for a second before he closed his eyes. The look of pain that he had prompted Hinata to squeeze his hand gently. "Most of us who went after 'im nearly died. Me, too. I wouldn't be wrapped up like a mummy otherwise."

Kin smirked. "Actually, you remind me of Dosu. Not really a good thing, actually. Anyway, what're ya gonna do when you get outta here?"

Naruto shook his head slowly, and glanced to Hinata. The Hyuuga girl nodded and activated the privacy seal- after the time she'd seen Shizune do it once in the room to speak with them, she'd asked the sannin's apprentice to teach her how to use it. With a nod, Hinata smiled to Naruto, her cheeks still tinted red. "Thanks, Hinata." he said to her, before looking back to Kin. Their hands strayed apart this time. "I'm not sure. I think that program you mentioned sounds good. I know... I know I'm not going to be wanted around here after I get out of the hospital."

Kin frowned. "Why? I mean, sure, Oto's full of bastards and that Orochimaru's one of 'em. You weren't even in charge of the mission, were you? You're just a genin."

Naruto looked out the nearby window, attempting to hide the way his eyes were tearing up. "I... I think I killed my teammate." he whispered softly, and his body shivered visibly. Hinata began to reach toward his arm, and he shook his head in response.

The raven haired girl shook her head this time. "Why? Look, I've been in a cell for over around a month or more. I didn't have a clock, so I couldn't really figure out how long I was gone for. Now I'm out with a possibility of escaping death for being part of a village that attacked this village, without even attacking anyone from here during that time. I don't know who hurt you so bad that you got stuck in this damned hospital, or what mission you went on in the first place. I've heard a few rumors in the past couple hours, but even I know better than to believe everything I hear. Ex-Oto nin, remember?" With that, she reached over and tapped the blonde on the head- not a full out punch, nor a smack. Three fingers, right on the middle of the top of the blonde boy's noggin. "So, come on. If you killed your teammate because he tried to run away, that's one thing. That's doing what you're supposed to. Traitors get death. If Orochimaru finds me, I'm dead."

Naruto looked back at her with a furious look on his face. "He was my friend! My best friend! He knocked out our other teammate and I haven't seen her since before the mission! Maybe he somehow killed her, I don't know!" His shoulders heaved as his body shuddered again, and Kin took a step back as he began to growl softly. "We went to get him back. He was in this barrel thingie and I kicked it out of the arms of some guy who had some big scroll on his back. He had a seal on 'im... A curse seal. It looked different than Sasuke's."

He shook his head. "I went to grab it while Kiba handled the guy that'd been carrying the barrel-thing. Shikamaru was dealing with the red-haired girl. When I managed to get away from them, as per the plan, I tried to catch the barrel before it hit the ground... I..." Naruto gulped softly. "I missed. Rather, my clones were hit and they popped like a balloon. Didn't even slow it down. The thing hit the ground and the lid blew off of it. I dunno what exactly happened, but when the lid came off, I could feel the chakra in the air as it went off. Whatever it'd been doing to Sasuke, taking the lid off stopped it."

Kin frowned, slowly nodding as she took in the boy's statements. _Sounds like Sakon and Tayuya. That means they met, fought, and somehow defeated the Sound 5!_

Naruto looked to the sheets that covered his legs. "That's when I met some guy who called himself Kimimaro. Weird guy... Strong as hell." he shivered again as Kin's eyes went wide. "He could grow bones from anywhere and use 'em as weapons. Strange though, that was about all he could do. Kinda reminded me of Lee, for that matter. Fast 'n strong. Least he wasn't wearing green spandex."

"I don't really remember how I beat him. I remember getting stabbed a lot, though. More than anything else." He hadn't realized that his eyes were closed until he opened them again, looking up to see Kin staring at him. "Next thing I knew, Hinata was eating ramen from Ichiraku's beside my bed here." Naruto smiled softly and Hinata looked away, her cheeks somehow even more crimson than before.

"You... defeated the strongest of the Sound 5?" Kin asked quietly, the awe more than obvious in her voice. When he nodded sadly, Kin shivered. "They were hand-picked by Orochimaru, trained by him and his assistant. Genin shouldn't have been able to touch 'em, let alone kill them."

Naruto shrugged. "Like I said, he was strong. But he wasn't much of a ninja. I dunno much about the other guys, but from what I've heard about how bad the other guys were hurt, the other four had to be tough as hell to beat, too. I'm... I'm just glad no one else died."

"N-Naruto, it w-wasn't y-yo-your fault. H-he le-left on h-his own. Tr-tried to le-leave Konoha b-behind. I-I don't th-think he kn-knew wh-what he w-was go-going to miss h-here." Hinata tried to calm her friend, and to Kin's surprise, it seemed to work. Naruto nodded slightly.

"I guess you're right. Still, this sucks. He's dead and I can't even go to his funeral. I can only imagine what..."

"Naruto?" came a soft voice from the doorway, and all three in the room turned to find Sakura standing there. Naruto gulped as he stared at his teammate. This was the first time that Kin looked at the blonde boy and saw fear in his eyes. It was not, however, the first time she'd seen the pink haired girl glare at her. "What're you doing here?"

Naruto and Hinata looked to Kin and then back to Sakura, more than a little surprise showing on their faces as Kin shook her head. "I'm not an enemy, pinky. Least, I'm not your enemy. Leave the past in the past, if my team had wanted you dead, we could've had you before going after our real target." Kin smiled a little bit. "You did give us a good workout though. You and the green kid."

Sakura grit her teeth as she stared at the black-haired girl for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Yeah. I guess you're right. After all, if you were an enemy, you wouldn't be here with Naruto and Hinata." With that, she looked over to Naruto. "I needed time, Naruto." she told him, in a quiet tone of voice. The blonde nodded slightly- he could understand that. He still needed time, too.

"You're here now, though..." Naruto replied, and Sakura looked to the tiled floor.

"Yeah. Um, I..." the girl trailed off, and sighed softly. "I'm going into the medic program. I... don't think I can work with you anymore, Naruto." Sakura looked back up and to Naruto as she said that, her hands clenching into fists as she did. Kin frowned and Hinata covered her mouth with one hand as she gasped softly. Naruto just sat there numbly, a blank look on his face. Sakura nodded to herself. "Yeah. I... I know it was an accident. But I can't... I can't think of it that way. Not yet. It feels like... something else." She hung her head and nearly ran from the room, the door slamming shut behind her after she tugged on it on her way out.

The blonde boy absently nodded, unable to bring himself to saying anything as he stared at the closed door on the other side of the room. Then, he just closed his eyes. His mask broke.

It was the first time in quite a while that anyone had seen Naruto cry.

* * *

In the morning the next day, Naruto had several friends visiting, though part of it was because that the Hokage herself had made it an order for them to be there. The door opened for the first time, and in stepped the young girl that had helped him so much recently. "Heya Hinata. Thanks for coming today. It... really means a lot."

Hinata blinked, giving the boy a warm smile before the door opened wider behind her, forcing the Hyuuga heiress to step out of the way as her teammates walked in. "Hey Naruto. Glad you're doin' okay. You look a hell of a lot better than we did the other day." Akamaru yipped, his little head visible through the front of Kiba's half-zipped hoodie.

"Indeed. It appears your capacity to heal is beyond anything I would ever have thought possible. Or perhaps Tsunade's own skills are as legendary as has been stated by others." Shino commented, reaching behind to close the door behind the trio. Naruto smiled and watched as the three came over to his bed.

"Yeah, I'm lucky to be able to heal so fast. I might be outta here tomorrow. I hope so, anyway."

"Th-that dep-depends on l-lady Tsunade's decision." Hinata reminded the blonde, who nodded and grinned.

"True, but I could always leave a clone and escape out the window!"

Shino stood there idly before speaking. "The chances of your escape are more miniscule than you would believe, Naruto. ANBU are stationed at the door and at your window, so it would be prudent for you to obtain permission to leave from the hokage before attempting to leave prematurely."

Naruto smirked. "Remember, Shino. Prankster king of Konoha. As long as they don't go for lethal attacks, I can probably get away and get 'em to chase me for... I'd say an hour at most. Even I know better than to force myself right after I get out of the hospital." He shook his head slightly as Shino simply stared at him and Kiba grinned broadly. Hinata giggled.

"Good. Remaining in good health is beneficial, especially while still recovering from fresh injuries. Do you know why lady hokage called for this meeting today? I presume it involves you, since we are in this room with you today." Naruto nodded, suddenly giving a big smile that made Hinata blink in surprise at the speed at which he'd changed his tune from.

"Yep! Sorry, can't say anything until she gets here though. And there's a few others coming too, I think." Naruto said with a fake cheer in his voice. It was obvious enough to Hinata, but Kiba and Shino were oblivious. Akamaru sniffed the air and yipped, just in time for the door open once more. "Hi Sakura!" he exclaimed, though this time his false cheer was laced with an obvious nervousness that even Shino picked up on.

The pink-haired girl smiled softly as she entered. "Hi, Naruto. Hi Hinata, Kiba, Shino. What's going on?" She gave Naruto a glare that he hadn't seen since the preliminary round that had him both silenced and paralyzed at the same time. "Why are we having a meeting here, Naruto?"

Naruto sighed and just tried to relax, though he was having trouble, as he often did when Sakura was the one doing the questioning. "Yeah... Well, try not to ask too many questions, yet, okay? Baa-chan wants to be here with ero-sannin to head up the meeting. I think there's one or two others, other than them that is, though."

Shino and Hinata exchanged a glance as Kiba walked over to Sakura and started to chat a bit with her. These two knew that something was going on, and a nearly imperceptible nod by the Aburame made Hinata smile a bit, reassured as she turned back to face Naruto again. "N-naruto, wo-would you like a gl-glass o-of w-water while w-we wait?"

"Thanks, Hinata, that'd be great." He leaned in to whisper to the girl, much to her surprise and the flooding crimson on her cheeks as she felt the whisper of his breath upon her ear. "Might want to see if they have a pitcher of water and a few cups to spare. This could be a long meeting." Naruto moved back to rest upon the bed again, wincing slightly as he stretched his legs out a little. Hinata smiled and left the room to get the pitcher of water. The blonde looked up to the hooded genin and smiled softly. "Does she blush like that all the time... or just around me, Shino?"

"Primarily when you are involved or in her proximity, she blushes with increasing frequency, Naruto. It does happen when you are not near, but not to the same degree." was the quiet response, to which Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. He heard a slight buzzing sound from Shino's body, which quieted after a second before Shino spoke again. "Uzumaki, I believe I have a theory as to the reason of this meeting." the boy nearly whispered, to which the blonde's eyes suddenly opened and he looked to the Aburame boy. His gaze gave up the fear that he felt at the moment, but when Shino bowed his head slightly to him, Naruto's breath came back to him.

"You..." and Shino nodded again, leaving Naruto to smile to the taller boy. "Thanks, Shino."

"We are not so different, Naruto Uzumaki. Whereas both should be accepted, only one is. For that, I at least ask your forgiveness." The request caught the normally hyper blonde off-guard as he sat there, stunned by the boy that had remained close to speak with him. For a moment, he just watched Shino, to try and see if this was some sort of trick, or a prank. But the boy showed no emotion that Naruto could spy, which left him to smile.

And then he shook his head. "Nothin' to forgive, Shino. You're one of my friends, and you've never bothered me at all." Naruto grinned. "And you were fun to spar with, back in the Academy." The memory of those times made Shino nod, and in doing so, gave the blonde a glimpse beyond the high collar of his jacket to see the smile that the Aburame had at the moment. Naruto's grin grew as he realized just how rare such an act was from one of the Aburame clan to actually show their face to anyone outside their family.

Hinata returned with a tray and a pitcher of water on it, setting both down next to the nearby sink before she began to pour water into the cups that had been balanced carefully upon the tray itself. "Oh, Hinata, you don't have to do that..." Naruto said, and then to everyone's surprise, attempted to get himself off the bed. A blur of lavender and blue-black hair caught him in place before he could swing his legs off, and he found himself with a pair of hands resting on his shoulders as a girl with short hair held him in place.

"I w-would ra-rather p-pour the wa-water th-than make y-you do it wh-when you sh-should be r-resting and h-healing, Naruto." the girl stuttered out, her face red as she glared at him with her normally gentle, lavender-hued eyes. The blonde blushed, and nodded slowly, even as Sakura stopped in mid-step, one hand brushing up a sleeve of her light jacket while the other was raised. Naruto noticed her and had to keep himself from reacting, knowing that position all too well from the many attacks he had sufered at the hands of his painfully strong, potentially ex-teammate.

_She just saved me from a massive Sakura beatdown!_ The boy smiled to Hinata, and brought his hands to the girl's, and just rest them there on top of hers. "Alright then, Hinata." He pat her hands lightly and released them, before she could faint. Even Shino had moved behind the girl just to be on the safe side, but both were surprised when Hinata gave them a small smile and walked back over to the sink to fill the cups with water.

"Damn, Naruto. Remember that- don't piss off Hinata." Kiba quipped, giving him a grin before the door opened again.

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked, and the scarred chunin nodded.

"Good to see you guys again. How's my last batch of genin from the academy doing today?" Iruka gave a glance to Naruto and smirked. "Okay, other than the prankster in bandages. I already know about him."

"Hey!"

With the exception of Shino, everyone in the room had a good chuckle at the expense of one certain blonde. Even Naruto joined in after a moment. "But seriously... Naruto, how many more people did you want Lady Tsunade to invite here? Is this everyone?"

The blonde shook his head. "Actually, there's one more, but he's in no condition to be moved right now. Other than baa-chan and ero-sannin, this is everyone." Thinking for a moment, Naruto smirked. "If I had to guess, they're probably on their way here, taking their time. Or baa-chan is beating the hell outta ero-sannin after he did something pervy. She might've had to find him at the hot springs." He shivered at the thought. "Her punches make Sakura's feel like a pat on the back."

"I hit harder than that!" Sakura muttered, which made Naruto shiver again.

"Not all the time, thank kami. I'd probably be dumber than you think I am if you did." the blonde retaliated, to which the pink-haired girl grit her teeth and seethed in her anger. "Look, if you're gonna hit me, I'm already in the hospital. But let's face it, Sakura... I'm tired of it."

The girl blinked. "Tired of it? I don't... hit you that often."

Naruto sighed. "No, just anytime you want to make a point, or to try and, as I think you've said once, 'beat the stupid out of my ears.' I don't think it works that way, Sakura."

She blushed and lowered her hands to her sides. "You keep saying things you should already know, or should've..."

"Learned in the academy? Like how I didn't know about how chakra flows through the body, about how chakra reserves and use works? How about an actual taijutsu style?" Naruto countered, and then chuckled as he looked to Iruka. "Iruka-sensei was the only teacher that actually taught me anything that stuck. Most of the time, I was told to stand outside the classroom, especially before that last year in the Academy. I missed out on a lot, and no one ever caught the reason why I couldn't use bunshin 'til after I learned kage bunshin."

He frowned sadly. "And I didn't understand most of the explanation until Hinata told me just how bad my control is compared to the amount of chakra I have. Did you know that I never really finished the tree climbing exercise back in Wave, Sakura? I couldn't... quite keep up with Sasuke." Naruto shrugged. Sakura stared at him, her mouth open in shock at the admission. Kiba snickered.

"Dude, you couldn't get a handle on tree climbing? How long were you training on it? It just took Akamaru and me about 3 weeks with Hinata's help, and it took Hinata almost..." Kiba trailed off as he saw how Hinata looked to the floor sadly. Naruto chuckled softly and shook his head.

"Actually, I still haven't mastered it. Or water walking yet. I'm good at both, ever since ero-sannin took that seal off me, but I don't think I've mastered either one yet. It's... really easy for me to lose my grip on the tree trunk or to lose my footing on water." Thinking for a moment, Naruto shrugged. "Guess I've been working on both for about two and a half, maybe three months now?"

Iruka chuckled softly. "I knew you had a lot of energy, but that's just crazy, Naruto. You should really work on finishing with the tree climbing before water walking." he chided, taking a moment to take a cup of water from Hinata, thanking the girl in doing so. "Still, I'm surprised you're taking so long."

"Well, I'm only putting in about three hours a day on it when I train. I still need chakra to make some shadow clones to spar with for my taijutsu practice, too. I put in another two hours on water walking to cool off as well- when I screw up, I really cool off." That got a laugh out of Kiba and Iruka, and a giggle from Hinata. Sakura just shook her head. "Well, it's better than when ero-sannin and the closet perv had me water walking at the hot spring. Believe me, water at that temperature is a good way to make you keep your concentration on what you're doing."

"Got that right, brat. But it's better not to train like that at the hot springs anyway. Even if it's about the only place you could be while still being supervised by that perverted bastard." came a voice from the doorway, which showed the entrance of the current hokage and afterward, the toad sannin himself. Hinata started handing out the cups of water to everyone, while Jiraiya closed the door behind them.

"Hey! I resemble that remark."

"We know, ero-sannin. We know." Naruto smirked and took the offered cup, thanking Hinata before she went to offer another to Sakura. "Anyway... what's up? I know there's more going on here than just what's dealing with me, so...?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Gaki, you, Hinata, and Iruka are pretty much up to date when it comes down to what is going on. There's gonna be a vote later today regarding what'll happen, and that'll set the tone for what you'll need to do."

"Wait a sec. What he needs to do?" Kiba frowned, glancing from the blonde boy back to the two oldest people in the room. "Does this have something to do with our last mission?" Given a nod by Tsunade in response, Kiba's eyes narrowed. "Don't the rest of us have to worry about something like this, then?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No. Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and yourself are exempt. It's because of Sasuke's death that the civilians think they have a case against Naruto. Unfortunately, due to mitigating circumstances, it doesn't look like we have much of a choice regarding the safety measures that they wish to enact."

"S-safety measures?" Hinata asked, the cup in her trembling hands being set back down on the tray after Jiraiya had declined the cup. Naruto sighed.

"Yeah, there's a good reason for it, too. And yeah, it has to do with me."

Jiraiya walked over to stand near the window, a few feet away from Shino. "This is an S-rank village secret, everyone. If you tell anyone about it, and in fact if you hear anyone say anything about this to anyone, it's cause for death. Period. Only Naruto's allowed to give out this information to people he wants to tell." The old man looked to the blonde kid. "You sure you want to do this?"

Naruto shook his head after turning to face his mentor. "No. I'm never sure about this sort of thing." he answered quietly, before turning to face the people in the room. "But, you guys are the ones I trust the most, out of everyone I know. Well, there are two others, but no one could find one and Neji's... well, you know." The boy's smile fell completely, and he sipped from the cup of water that he'd taken a moment ago.

He looked up. "Well, I don't really know how to say it. But I will. When the kyuubi attacked about 13 years ago now, the fourth hokage managed to defeat it. Not kill it or destroy it, but defeat it. No one can kill a bijuu. That'd be kinda like trying to keep the sun from setting at night, or something like that. They're a freakin' force of nature." Naruto set the cup down on the table near his bed, his own hand trembling before he clasped it. Warmth on his shoulder brought him to look up at Iruka, who had his hand on his shoulder and the boy smiled. "Thanks."

Iruka nodded, and Naruto turned back to face the others. "I was born that day, you know. October 10th. While everyone was busy attempting to save the village, or their loved ones, I was being born. And since a bijuu can't be killed, the fourth decided to seal the kyuubi into something that could contain it. But the only way to do that is inside something that could handle it's chakra, and with the fourth being a fuuinjutsu master, he was able to lock the kyuubi's power, and the beast itself, away... into a newborn child."

With that said, he lifted the shirt he wore, and then pulled the bandages over his stomach up. The skin was pink and fresh, healing from his wounds. But the ink upon it looked as new and dark as the day it was dried upon his skin. "It's called the Fuuin Shiki seal. It keeps the beast locked inside me. I get it's chakra, bit by bit. It's why everyone in the village hates me."

His gaze fell, and his eyes closed. "You're... the first people I've ever told. I wasn't even told about it until Mizuki spelled it out, but Iruka... Iruka-sensei helped me afterward."

Iruka nodded slightly. "Mizuki tricked Naruto into stealing the sacred scroll from the sandaime's home. It's how Naruto learned the kage bunshin jutsu. I saved him while he was in shock from the revelation... and he saved me by creating maybe a thousand shadow clones and beating Mizuki to hell." The scarred chunin smiled as he pat the blonde on the back.

Though even as he said that, it didn't look as if his old students had even heard what he'd said. Instead, each one were in seperate steps of the process of understanding what Naruto had just told them. He coughed gently and stepped away from Naruto, coming to rest against the wall beside the bed that the blonde was stuck lying in as he just rested there, unmoving. His eyes still closed as he fought the overwhelming urge to do something other than just sit there and wait. _What if they don't see me as me anymore? What if they think I'm the kyuubi? Will they reject me? Will they attack me?"_

The first movement caught the eyes of the adults in the room, and Shino as well, but Naruto was unaware of it until he felt a hand upon the sides of his arms. After a second, the hands moved from his arms and to the blonde's chest, fingers digging into the shirt as warmth spread from the center of it. Naruto's eyes opened when he felt moisture on the thing white shirt he wore and was surprised to find a shock of dark blue hair teasing his chin. His face went red and he heard a gasp from beyond the girl clutching at his chest, hiding her face in his shirt as the moisture from Hinata's eyes was absorbed by his shirt. "H-Hinata?" he asked quietly, his hands coming to rest upon the girl's arms gently.

"You are not the kyuubi." she stated simply, her voice muffled against his chest but still easy to hear. And she hadn't stuttered in saying so. "You are Naruto Uzumaki. Not some beast bent on destroying a village. You inspired me to be a better person, a stronger person. You still do, N-Naruto." she finished, looking up to him with her lavender eyes and making him blush as their gazes met.

"Solid gold..." Jiraiya muttered, already hard at work writing down in his notebook with a grin on his face before Tsunade stalked toward the toad sage, cracking her knuckles ominously. Shino merely smiled behind the high collar of his jacket while he stepped out of the way, nodding slightly as Hinata made her own feelings known to the blonde boy. Sighing, Jiraiya put the notebook away and Tsunade backed down, looking to Shino, who merely nodded in return to the hokage's questioning look. He hadn't shown any reaction to the confession that Naruto had given, which had surprised her despite the typical stoic personalities of the boy's clan.

Kiba nodded slowly. "Though I'm not about to give you a hug, man, you're still the same dead last from class that I remember from the Academy. You're the same guy, and this just explains a lot of crap I've seen you handle since we graduated. Shit, how else could anyone handle Gaara like you did. You fought Neji, and less than two hours later you're going after Gaara and his siblings while the entire village is gettin' trounced." The feral-looking Inuzuka gave him a grin. "Hey, I still trust ya. Just 'cause you got a fox in ya don't mean a thing to me. Though I guess this makes you a bit closer to my clan than I thought you were, canines and all."

Naruto gave him a grin, even as he reached around with one hand to extend to the boy. Kiba came up and shook his hand, Akamaru giving a yip in what could only be thought of as agreement. Then Kiba looked over to his teammate. "Oi, what about you, Shino?"

"Naruto's condition has been known to me since the chunin exam, Kiba. Rest assured, I hold no ill will and only admiration for the fortitude with which Naruto has handled his burden, albeit unknowingly and unwittingly, since the day of his birth." Shino replied, pushing his dark glasses up along his nose slightly with one finger from his hand. "My clan has made certain, after the past few years, to at least provide nominal support for Uzumaki's living conditions."

"Really? I never knew anything about that." Tsunade asked, looking back over to the Aburame boy.

"Due to the sandaime's own set of laws that were never explained to our generation due to similar reasons regarding the threat that Uzumaki carries within, the Aburame clan, and any other clan in Konoha, are incapable of providing credible assistance to him. I do not know if any other clans showed interest in providing support to Uzumaki, however." Shino explained, and Naruto nodded slowly.

"Jiji helped me as best he could. I remember a few times when I was little when a lady with red markings on her face was nice to me, or when a big guy talked to me. That was when I was in the orphanage before jiji took me out of it and gave me an apartment to live in."

It was then that Sakura finally spoke. "Naruto. That red chakra is the Kyuubi's, right?" Torn from his memories, the blonde nodded. "That was how you beat Haku. How you managed to help Sasuke in the forest. And... how you not only beat Neji, but Gaara as well?" Another nod. "You said the seal lets the Kyuubi's chakra out. It gives you a lot of power, doesn't it? Doesn't that... Isn't that dangerous? To rely on something like that? It's like Sasuke's cursed seal."

Naruto nodded once more. "Yeah. In a strange way, yeah. But it's not the same thing. The fourth knew what he was doing with this one." His hands left Hinata's arms, releasing her from his grasp as he smiled a little bit. "The fox isn't getting out. It's stuck in me and I'm not letting it go. At all."

"Naruto's right, pinky." Jiraiya finally spoke up, bringing everyone's eyes to him. Hinata even stood up straight and looked to the older man. "The eight trigrams seal, as it's called, is my student's work of art. His masterpiece. If Naruto dies, then the fox will go with him. Bijuu, when they die, will eventually re-form someplace else in the world, and in a number of years that correspond with the number of tails on the beast. So, it'd take nine years for the kyuubi to reform if something were to happen to Naruto."

"Their lives... they're intertwined, then?" Jiraiya nodded to Sakura's question, and the girl looked back to Naruto, a contemplative look in the girl's eyes. "I... don't know. But... I do know that you, Naruto, may be an idiot, loud, and maybe the craziest guy I've known other than Lee, but..." She gave him a small smile. "You're no demon fox. This does explain why you're hated by so many people in Konoha, too."

Kiba nodded. "Yeah, it does. Man, you gotta be the bravest person I know. Telling anyone about this takes guts." Then he looked around. "Hey... I would've thought Shikamaru'd be here."

"Nara is on a mission right now, so he couldn't make it. This one's pretty important, so I couldn't spare him for this meeting today." the Hokage replied, to which Naruto nodded.

"Pretty much. Yeah, other than you guys, there's only three others who aren't here who I might tell. Neji, Shikamaru, and Kin." Sakura frowned at that last name, and Kiba looked confused.

Sitting down in one of the numerous chairs that had been set in the room, Kiba let Akamaru out of his jacket as he leaned down to start thinking. "Why does that name sound familiar? Definitely not one of our classmates."

"No, definitely not. I don't think we've had a Kin as part of the Academy roster for as long as I can remember." Iruka responded, looking to the blonde as he chuckled nervously. "Well, who is this Kin?"

Hinata smiled as she finally let go of Naruto and stepped away from the bed, looking to the others. "Kin Tsuchi. She was one of the Oto genin from the chunin exams. Remember the prelim round?" That got a round of nods from the others before Naruto continued. "Well, I met her when I was visiting Hinata in the hospital. After the invasion, until yesterday, we hadn't seen her though. She's a good person... and now she's a genin of the village, isn't she?"

Jiraiya smirked. "Yeah, well, she will be today. Paperwork, ya know? It takes a little while to go through sometimes." Tsunade laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, she'll be a member of Konoha's ninja corps today. Genin only, of course, but inactive until a spot opens up on a team or..." She glanced to Naruto, seeing the look in the blonde's eyes and she shook her head. Naruto's hopefulness took a dive afterward. "No, Naruto. Team 7 is done. Sometime very soon, we will be having a talk with your jounin-sensei about his method of teaching. In fact, could you or Sakura please tell us just what he taught you before the chunin exams took place?"

Sakura thought for a moment before speaking up for the both of them. "Um... let's see. At first, it was getting us to work as a team while we trained and did missions. He taught me how to recognize genjutsu and how to free myself from low-rank techniques. I think he was tutoring Sasuke as well." She shrugged. "Not sure though. But Sasuke was getting stronger, faster than we were." The pink-haired girl looked to Naruto.

The boy just sighed. "Nothing. I didn't learn anything other than how to work with Sasuke and Sakura until the Wave mission. And then it was trying to figure out tree climbing."

Kiba growled, drawing attention to him from the way that Tsunade's fists were shaking. "That's it? Teamwork and tree climbing?" Naruto nodded. "And I still couldn't beat you in the prelims? Hell, we started tree climbing the third day after graduation."

"Kurenai-sensei also taught us to recognize and release genjutsu techniques that same week." Shino stated, and Kiba shrugged. Hinata nodded. "Afterward, we would practice taijutsu and perfect our family techniques as well before going on missions. By the time the chunin exams began, we were already working on water walking techniques. Our sensei also taught myself and Hinata to use several techniques that I am not at liberty to divulge at the moment."

Kiba leaned back in the chair again. "Yeah, we had some tricks up our sleeves, but honestly, you saw all mine at the time at the prelims. We were better prepared than your team was, Naruto, and the forest of death was basically our playground." He grinned. "I can still barely believe that you guys even made it at all."

Naruto shook his head and grinned back. "Hey, that's no way to talk to your future hokage. We made it, and that's the important part. Sakura did her part, Sasuke did his... up 'til he got that cursed seal hickey thing... and I know I did, too."

"What the hell did you do, Naruto? I remember you bein' chased by a snake and knocked out for a while. I sure don't remember you doing a whole lot of anything when we were attacked by that Oto genin team." Sakura snarled, and Naruto froze for a moment before he smirked back at the girl.

"Um, let's see. What about when we faced Orochimaru. Who was the scaredy cat then, huh? It wasn't us." Sakura blinked. "And, hm... I seem to remember getting blasted in the face by you... well, that doesn't count, I guess." Naruto thought about the rest of it for a moment. "Let's see, there was that ambush we ambushed near the tower, too."

"Oh... yeah, that's right. You did do pretty good there."

A cough brought the two back to the room from the memory of their time in the forest, and all eyes rested on the hokage. "As nice as it is to reminisce, we have other things to plan for. Naruto, I believe you'll be ready to leave the hospital the day after tomorrow. But, tomorrow, I want you to make some clones and get some new clothes- don't go crazy with the orange this time, though. Iruka, be prepared for a visit by him for some of his money." She glared when Naruto attempted to argue, and cowed, Naruto just nodded slightly.

"Maybe you could get one of your friends to help out with finding something good. I'll bet..." Jiraiya was cut off as Tsunade came up and smashed her fist into his face.

"That's enough out of you today, Jiraiya. Okay everyone, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here. I need to give the gaki here a quick check-up, so get out. Stick around if you want to talk with Naruto some more, but right now, he's mine to deal with. Get out!"

Everyone left, though Hinata was the last to do so. Tsunade took the girl's arm, startling the Hyuuga before giving the girl a smile as the others walked out the door. "Hinata, I'd like you to help Naruto's clones tomorrow, if you don't mind. He needs quite a bit of help to get his clothes handled." She took her hand from the girl's arm and Hinata blushed, bowing her head in response.

"I-I'd be ha-happy t-to as-assist, lady h-hokage." was all that Hinata managed to say, giving a glance back to Naruto and smiling before she darted from the room. The door closed behind her and both Tsunade and Naruto grinned to each other.

"Gaki, you better be good to that girl. She's very sweet." Tsunade came up to the bed and looked over the bandaged blonde, her hands easily undoing the wraps and tossing them into the nearby wastebasket as he looked up to the taller blonde woman.

"I know, baa-chan. She doesn't hit me like Sakura does... or like you have." he replied, grinning broadly as he lifted the damp shirt from his chest. "And come on, orange is a good color."

Tsunade groaned and just walked over, pushing the boy back down on the bed firmly. "Lie back and relax, gaki. This won't take long."

* * *

The din within the conference room died finally as Tsunade arrived. Behind her chair stood Shizune and Jiraiya, who watched the council members stand in honro of her arrival. "Be seated. Shizune, the first order of business I presume today is that which looms over the head of one genin Naruto Uzumaki, is it not?" The dark haired woman nodded in acknowledgment. "Very well." Tsunade came to the head of the table and leaned onto it slightly, watching the others sit down as she remained standing. "Have we all had enough time to think of this matter?"

A murmer of agreement swept through the civilians while the clan heads nodded. Tsunade nodded once and stood up straight. "Very well. Remember the options: banishment, the exchange program with Suna, or giving him to Danzo for emotional re-education. Again, execution is not an option."

A tall man amongst the clan elders stood, and looked to his fellows. Each one nodded, and he turned to face Tsunade. "As the clan head of the Hyuuga, and as a representative of all the clans of Konoha with a seat at this table, we vote to have Naruto Uzumaki join the exchange program, rather than to banish him, and it is his emotions that make him who he is today."

Hiashi sat down, leaving the hokage to nod and count up the unanimous decision by the clan elders. "Let me see. That would be the Hyuuga. Akimichi. Inuzuka. Yamanaka. Nara. Aburame. Sarutobi. And the Senju clan. That is a total of nine votes, and now eleven as I am also the hokage and endorse the same choice. Do remember that the hokage is allowed two votes on any matter in which votes are required." Tsunade glanced back to the civilian council- the hokage's council, the two old bats that were her sensei's partners on his team, didn't have voting powers in this case. But that still left seven civilians and then the retired warhorse, Danzo.

"That gives us the majority vote, regardless of how the rest of the council goes. To be fair, however, please do inform me of your votes."

It took less than five minutes for those votes to be tallied up. Two of the civilians had chosen to have Uzumaki banished, while four voted to have him re-educated by Danzo (including the old man himself). The seventh actually brought the votes for the exchange program to twelve in all. Tsunade nodded, and glanced to Shizune, who had written down everything and was in the process of getting signatures from each individual at the meeting to make the tally official on paper.. "Very well. Within five days of Naruto Uzumaki's recovery from his mission, he will be entered and sent to Suna as part of the program. By midnight on the fifth day, he will no longer be welcome in Konoha, unless part of a mission or until he is recalled."

_Take that, you ancient morons._ Tsunade nodded to Jiraiya. "Thank you for bearing witness, Jiraiya. You may leave now, if you wish. All that remains is a few lesser details and none that involve your student."

"Thank you, lady hokage. I shall take my leave, then." and with that, the toad sage left the council room and made his way to the exit. Catching a certain young black-haired girl by surprise, he tapped the girl's shoulder and heard the gasp she made before she swiftly fell in behind the old man. "Alright, let's visit the tower and get you a hitai-ate, Tsuchi. There's some time before you will be leaving... but you will be leaving with Uzumaki."

Kin smiled slightly as she walked behind the sannin. "Hai." she stated, and Jiraiya gave her a grin.

"You sound pretty happy about this."

She nodded. "Of course. I'm alive, I'm not gonna rot in prison or be killed by the village, and I'm going to go see Suna with people that I think I could see myself befriending What's not to like?"

Jiraiya laughed and stopped, letting the girl walk at his side before he'd continue again. "If only more people had the same attitude as you. You sure you used to work for my old teammate?" he teased the girl, just to watch her grit her teeth and glare at the lecher.

His laughter just didn't stop until they reached the hokage's tower.


End file.
